7 1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of our Father. This is what our Father says: By this time tomorrow, seven quarts of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and fourteen quarts of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria."
2 Then the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of our Father, "Even if our Father opened windows in the heavens, could this happen?" Elisha replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it."
The Father Scatters the Aramean Army
3 Four men with a skin disease were at the gate entrance, and said to each other, "Why sit here until we die?" 4 If we say, 'Let's enter the city,' the famine is there, and we die. If we stay here, we die too. So come, let's go over to the Aramean camp. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, we die.
5 So at twilight they rose to go to the Aramean camp. Reaching its edge, they found no one there. 6 For the Sovereign Father had made the Aramean army hear the sound of chariots and horses, the sound of a great army, so they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and of Egypt to attack us!" 7 So they got up and fled at twilight, leaving their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and fled for their lives. 8 When these men with the skin disease reached the camp's edge, they entered one tent, ate and drank, then carried off silver, gold, and clothing and hid them. They returned, entered another tent, took from it, and hid that too. 9 They said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news, and we're keeping quiet. If we wait until morning light, punishment will find us. Now come, let's go tell the king's household."
10 So they came and called to the city gatekeepers, reporting: "We went to the Aramean camp—no one there, no human sound, only horses and donkeys tied up, and the tents just as they were."
11 The gatekeepers called out the news, and it was reported inside the king's household.
12 That night the king rose and told his officials, "Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we're starving, so they've left camp to hide in the fields, thinking: When they leave the city, we'll take them alive and get inside."
13 One of his servants said, "Take five of the horses left in the city. They will fare like all the Israelites left here—like all the Israelites already dead. Let us send and see."
14 So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, "Go, find out." 15 They followed them to the Jordan; the whole road was littered with clothes and gear the Arameans threw off in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.
16 The people went out and plundered the Aramean camp. So seven quarts of fine flour sold for four ounces, and fourteen quarts of barley for four ounces, as our Father had said. 17 The king had put the captain on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate; the crowd trampled him there, and he died — just as the man of our Father had said when the king came down to him. 18 It happened just as the man of our Father told the king: "About this time tomorrow at Samaria's gate, fourteen quarts of barley will sell for about 0.4 ounces, and seven quarts of fine flour for about 0.4 ounces." 19 The officer had answered the man of our Father, "Look, even if our Father opened windows in the heavens, could such a thing happen?" And he replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it." 20 This is exactly what happened: the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.
