2 Kings 6:24–7:20

The Siege of Samaria—Cannibalism

²⁴Now it came about after this, that ^aBen-hadad king of Aram gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria.

²⁵There was a great ^afamine in Samaria; and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a ¹kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.

²⁶As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”

²⁷He said, “¹If the Lord does not help you, from where shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?”

²⁸And the king said to her, “^aWhat ¹is the matter with you?” And she ²answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’

²⁹“^aSo we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”

³⁰When the king heard the words of the woman, ^ahe tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth ¹beneath on his ²body.

³¹Then he said, “May ^aGod do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat ¹remains on him today.”

³²Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and ^athe elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from his presence; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you ^bsee how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and ¹hold the door shut against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”

³³While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him and he said, “^aBehold, this evil is from the Lord; why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

Chapter 7

Elisha Promises Food

¹Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord, ‘^aTomorrow about this time a ¹measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’ ”

^2aThe royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of God and said, “Behold, ^bif the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” Then he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat ¹of it.”

Four Lepers Relate Arameans’ Flight

³Now there were four ^aleprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die?

⁴“If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us ¹go over to ^athe camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, we will but die.”

⁵They arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there.

⁶For ^athe Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us ^bthe kings of the Hittites and ^cthe kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.”

⁷Therefore they ^aarose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp just as it was, and fled for their life.

⁸When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and ^acarried from there silver and gold and clothes, and went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also, and went and hid them.

⁹Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning light, punishment will ¹overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household.”

¹⁰So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor the voice of man, only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.”

¹¹The gatekeepers called and told it within the king’s household.

¹²Then the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that ^awe are hungry; therefore they have gone from the camp ^bto hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’ ”

¹³One of his servants said, “Please, let some men take five of the horses which remain, which are left ¹in the city. Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who have already perished, so let us send and see.”

¹⁴They took therefore two chariots with horses, and the king sent after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”

The Promise Fulfilled

¹⁵They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king.

¹⁶So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a ¹measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, ^aaccording to the word of the Lord.

¹⁷Now the king appointed ^athe royal officer on whose hand he leaned ¹to have charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died just as the man of God had said, ^bwho spoke when the king came down to him.

¹⁸It happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “^aTwo ¹measures of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria.”

¹⁹Then the royal officer answered the man of God and said, “Now behold, ^aif the Lord should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat ¹of it.”

²⁰And so it happened to him, for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died.