2 Kings 7

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 'Listen to the word of Yahweh,' Elisha said. 'Yahweh says this, "By this time tomorrow a measure offinest flour wil sel for one shekel, and two measures of barley for one shekel, at the gate of Samaria." '	1 Then Elisha said: “Listen to the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Tomorrow, at this time, one measure of fine wheat flour will be one silver coin, and two measures of barley will be one silver coin, at the gate of Samaria.”
2 The equerry on whose arm the king was leaning retorted to Elisha, 'Even if Yahweh made windows inthe sky, could this word come true?' 'You wil see it with your own eyes,' Elisha replied, 'though you will eat noneof it.'	2 And one of the leaders, upon whose hand the king leaned, responding to the man of God, said, “Even if the Lord will open the floodgates of heaven, how can what you say possibly be?” And he said, “You will see it with your own eyes, and you will not eat from it.”
3 Now at the entrance to the gate -- for they were afflicted with virulent skin-disease -- there were four men and they debated among themselves, 'Why sit here waiting for death?	3 Now there were four lepers beside the entrance of the gate. And they said one to another: “Should we choose to stay here until we die?
4 If we decide to go into the city, what with the famine in it, we shal die there; if we stay where we are, weshall die just the same. Come on, let us go over to the Aramaean camp; if they spare our lives, we live; if they kilus, wel , then we die.'	4 If we choose to enter the city, we will die from the famine. And if we remain here, we also will die. Therefore, come and let us flee over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare us, we will live. But if they choose to kill us, we will die anyway.”
5 So at dusk they set out and made for the Aramaean camp, but when they reached the confines of thecamp there was not a soul there.	5 Therefore, they rose up in the evening, so that they might go to the camp of the Syrians. And when they had arrived at the beginning of the camp of the Syrians, they found no one in that place.
6 For Yahweh had caused the Aramaeans in their camp to hear a noise of chariots and horses, the noiseof a great army; and they had said to one another, 'Listen! The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptiankings against us, to attack us.'	6 For indeed, the Lord had caused them to hear, in the camp of Syria, the sound of chariots and horses, and a very numerous army. And they said one to another: “Behold, the king of Israel has paid wages to the kings of the Hittites and of the Egyptians against us. And they will overwhelm us.”
7 So in the dusk they had made off and fled, abandoning their tents, their horses and their donkeys;leaving the camp just as it was, they had fled for their lives.	7 Therefore, they rose up and fled away in the dark. And they left behind their tents and horses and donkeys in the camp. And they fled, desiring to save so much as their own lives.
8 The men with skin-disease, then, reached the confines of the camp. They went into one of the tents andate and drank, and from it carried off silver and gold and clothing; these they took and hid. Then they came backand, entering another tent, looted it too, and took and hid their booty.	8 And so, when these lepers had arrived at the beginning of the camp, they entered one tent, and they ate and drank. And they took from there silver, and gold, and clothing. And they went away and hid it. And they returned again to another tent, and similarly, carrying away from there, they hid it.
9 Then they said to one another, 'We are doing wrong. This is a day of good news, yet we are holding ourtongues! If we wait til morning, we shal certainly be punished. Come on, let us go and take the news to thepalace.'	9 Then they said one to another: “We are not doing the right thing. For this is a day of good news. If we remain silent and refuse to report it until morning, we will be charged with a crime. Come, let us go and report it in the court of the king.”
10 Off they went and shouted out to the guards on the city gate, 'We have been to the Aramaean camp.There was not a soul there, no sound of anyone, only tethered horses and tethered donkeys, and their tents justas they were.'	10 And when they had arrived at the gate of the city, they explained to them, saying: “We went into the camp of the Syrians, and we found no one in that place, except horses and donkeys tied, and the tents still standing.”
11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, which was reported inside the palace.	11 Therefore, the gatekeepers went and reported it in the palace of the king.
12 The king got up while it was still dark and said to his officers, 'I can tel you what the Aramaeans havedone to us. They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide in the open country. "They wil comeout of the city," they think, "we shall catch them alive and get into the city." '	12 And he rose up in the night, and he said to his servants: “I tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are suffering from famine, and therefore they have gone out from the camp, and they lie hidden in the fields, saying: ‘When they will have gone out from the city, we will capture them alive, and then we will be able to enter the city.’ ”
13 One of his officers replied, 'Five of the surviving horses stil left us had better be taken -- they would diein any case like al the rest. Let us send them and see.'	13 But one of his servants responded: “Let us take the five horses that remain in the city (for there were no more amid the entire multitude of Israel, since the rest had been consumed), and sending, we will be able to explore.”
14 So they took two chariot teams and the king sent them after the Aramaean army, saying, 'Go and see.'	14 Therefore, they brought two horses. And the king sent them into the camp of the Syrians, saying, “Go, and see.”
15 They fol owed them as far as the Jordan, finding the whole way strewn with clothes and gear which theAramaeans had thrown away in their panic. The scouts returned and informed the king.	15 And they went away after them, as far as the Jordan. But behold, the entire way was filled with clothing and vessels, which the Syrians had thrown aside when they were disturbed. And the messengers returned and told the king.
16 Then the people went out and plundered the Aramaean camp: a measure of finest flour sold for oneshekel, and two measures of barley for one shekel, as Yahweh had promised they would.	16 And the people, going out, pillaged the camp of the Syrians. And one measure of fine wheat flour went for one silver coin, and two measures of barley went for one silver coin, in accord with the word of the Lord.
17 The king had detailed the equerry, on whose arm he leaned, as commander of the guard on the gate,but the people trampled on him in the gateway and he died, as the man of God had foretold when the king hadcome down to him.	17 Then the king stationed that leader, on whose hand he leaned, at the gate. And the crowd trampled him at the entrance of the gate. And he died, in accord with what the man of God had said when the king had descended to him.
18 (What Elisha had said to the king came true, 'Two measures of barley wil sel for one shekel, and ameasure of finest flour for one shekel, by this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.'	18 And this happened in accord with the word of the man of God, which he had spoken to the king, when he said: “Two measures of barley will be one silver coin, and one measure of fine wheat flour will be one silver coin, at this same time tomorrow, at the gate of Samaria.”
19 And the equerry in question had replied to the man of God, 'Even if Yahweh made windows in the sky,could this word come true?' 'You wil see it with your own eyes,' Elisha had answered, 'though you wil eat noneof it.'	19 Then that leader had responded to the man of God, and he had said, “Even if the Lord will open the floodgates of heaven, how can what you say possibly happen?” And he said to him, “You will see it with your own eyes, and you will not eat from it.”
20 And that was what happened to him: for the people trampled on him in the gateway and he died.)	20 Therefore, it happened to him just as it had been predicted. For the people trampled him at the gate, and he died.