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2 Kings 6:24-7:20 — Famine in Samaria; The Siege Lifted

2Kgs.6.24-7.20

²⁴Now it happened after this, that Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his army camp, and went up and besieged Samaria. ²⁵And there was a great famine in Samaria. And behold, they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a kab 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 the king!” ²⁷And he said, “If the LORD does not help you, from where can I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?” ²⁸Then the king said to her, “What is the matter with you?” And the woman answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.' ²⁹So 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." ³⁰Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And as he was passing by on the wall, the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth against his flesh underneath. ³¹Then he said, “May God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today!” ³²Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from before him, but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door shut against him. Is not the sound of his master's footsteps behind him?” ³³While he was still speaking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him. And he said , “Behold, this evil is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”

Chapter 7

¹Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD: 'About this time tomorrow, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel , and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.'” ²Then the officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this thing happen?” And he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat from there.” ³Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. And they said to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we die? ⁴If we say, 'Let us enter the city,' the famine is in the city, and we will die there. And if we sit here, we will die. Now therefore come, and let us surrender to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we will live; and if they kill us, we will die." ⁵So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans. And when they came to the edge of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no man there. ⁶For the Lord had caused the camp of the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, the sound of a great army. And they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us.” ⁷Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—the camp just as it was—and fled for their lives. ⁸When these leprous men came to the edge of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank, and carried from there silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. Then they returned and entered another tent, and carried things from there, and went and hid them. ⁹Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake 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 man there, nor the voice of a man, but only the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.” ¹¹Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told to the king's household within. ¹²And the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you now what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are hungry, so they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, 'When they come out of the city, we will take them alive, and enter the city.'” ¹³And one of his servants answered and said, “Please let some men take five of the remaining horses that are left in the city. Behold, they are just like the whole multitude of Israel that are left in it; indeed, they are just like the whole multitude of Israel that have perished. Let us send and see.” ¹⁴So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the camp of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.” ¹⁵And they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, the whole way was full of clothing and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king. ¹⁶Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. ¹⁷Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had spoken, who spoke when the king came down to him. ¹⁸And it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, will be about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.” ¹⁹And the officer had answered the man of God and said, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this thing happen?” And he had said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat from there.” ²⁰And it happened to him just that way, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.

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4/11/2026

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