2 Kings 6:24-7:20

New American Standard Bible

The Siege of Samaria—Cannibalism

²⁴ Now it came about after this, that ^(A)Ben-hadad the king of Aram gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. ²⁵ So there was a severe ^(B)famine in Samaria; and behold, they kept besieging it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a ^[a]kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. ²⁶ And as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord the king!” ²⁷ But he said, “^[b]If the Lord does not help you, from where am I to help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” ²⁸ Then the king said to her, “^(C)What ^[c]is on your mind?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son so that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ^29 (D)So we cooked my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, so that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.” ³⁰ When the king heard the woman’s words, ^(E)he tore his clothes—and he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth ^[d]underneath on his ^[e]body. ³¹ Then he said, “May ^(F)God do so to me and more so, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat ^[f]remains on him today.”

³² Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and ^(G)the 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 ^(H)see how this son of a murderer has sent a man to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and ^[g]hold the door shut against him. Is the sound of his master’s feet not behind him?” ³³ While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him and he said, “^(I)Behold, this evil is from the Lord; why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

Elisha Promises Food

7 Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of the Lord; this is what the Lord says: ‘^(J)About this time tomorrow a ^[h]measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’” ^2 (K)The royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning responded to the man of God and said, “^(L)Even if the Lord were to make ^[i]windows in heaven, could this thing happen?” Then he said, “Behold, you are going to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat ^[j]any of it.”

Four Men with Leprosy Report Arameans’ Flight

³ Now there were four ^(M)leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting 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; but if we sit here, we will also die. Now then come, and let’s go over to ^(N)the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, then we will die.” ⁵ So they got up 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. ⁶ For ^(O)the Lord had made the army of the Arameans hear a sound of chariots, a sound of horses, that is, the sound of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired ^(P)the kings of the Hittites and ^(Q)the kings of the Egyptians against us, to ^[k]attack us!” ⁷ So they ^(R)got up and fled at twilight, and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—indeed the camp itself, just as it was; and they fled for their lives. ⁸ When these men with leprosy came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and ^(S)carried from there silver, gold, and clothes, and they went and hid them; then they returned and entered another tent, and carried valuables from there also, and went and hid them.

⁹ Then they said to one another, “We are not doing the right thing. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent about it; if we wait until the morning light, punishment will ^[l]overtake us. Now then come, let’s go and inform the king’s household.” ¹⁰ So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor a human voice; only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.” ¹¹ And the gatekeepers called and announced it inside the king’s house. ¹² Then the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that ^(T)we are hungry; so they have left the camp ^(U)to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’” ¹³ One of his servants responded and said, “Please, have some men take five of the horses that remain, which are left ^[m]in the city. Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they will be like all the multitude of Israel who have already perished, so let us send them and see.” ¹⁴ Therefore they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”

The Promise Fulfilled

¹⁵ They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away when they fled in a hurry. Then the messengers returned and informed the king.

¹⁶ So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a ^[n]measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two ^[o]measures of barley for a shekel, ^(V)in accordance with the word of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now the king appointed ^(W)the royal officer on whose hand he leaned ^[p]to be in charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, ^(X)who spoke when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “^(Y)Two ^[q]measures of barley for a shekel and a ^[r]measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.” ¹⁹ At that time the royal officer had responded to the man of God and said, “Now even if ^(Z)the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could such a thing as this happen?” And he had said, “Behold, you are going to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat ^[s]any of it.” ²⁰ And this is what happened to him, for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died.