Add parallel Print Page Options

Elisha replied, “Listen to the Lord’s message. This is what the Lord has said, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah[a] of finely milled flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’” An officer who was the king’s right-hand man[b] responded to the prophet,[c] “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”[d] Elisha[e] said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”[f]

Now four men with a skin disease[g] were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, “Why are we just sitting here waiting to die?[h] If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation,[i] and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect[j] to the Syrian camp! If they spare us,[k] we’ll live; if they kill us—well, we were going to die anyway.”[l] So they started toward[m] the Syrian camp at dusk. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, there was no one there. The Lord had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a large army. Then they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has paid the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!” So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal.[n] They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all.[o] Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it[p] and went and hid what they had taken. Then they said to one another, “It’s not right what we’re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven’t told anyone.[q] If we wait until dawn,[r] we’ll be punished.[s] So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.” 10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers[t] of the city. They told them, “We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn’t even hear a man’s voice.[u] But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.”[v] 11 The gatekeepers relayed the news to the royal palace.[w]

12 The king got up in the night and said to his advisers,[x] “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.’” 13 One of his advisers replied, “Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people—we’re all going to die!)[y] Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.”[z] 14 So they picked two horsemen and the king sent them out to track the Syrian army.[aa] He ordered them, “Go and find out what’s going on.”[ab] 15 So they tracked them[ac] as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste.[ad] The scouts[ae] went back and told the king. 16 Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp. A seah[af] of finely milled flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, just as in the Lord’s message.

17 Now the king had placed the officer who was his right-hand man[ag] at the city gate. When the people rushed out, they trampled him to death in the gate.[ah] This fulfilled the prophet’s word which he had spoken when the king tried to arrest him.[ai] 18 The prophet had told the king, “Two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of finely milled flour for a shekel; this will happen about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.” 19 But the officer had replied to the prophet, “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”[aj] Elisha[ak] had said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”[al] 20 This is exactly what happened to him. The people trampled him to death in the city gate.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 7:1 sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 11 quarts (11 liters).
  2. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”
  3. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “man of God.”
  4. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” Opening holes in the sky would allow the waters stored up there to pour to the earth and assure a good crop. But, the officer argues, even if this were to happen, it would take a long time to grow and harvest the crop.
  5. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  6. 2 Kings 7:2 tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”
  7. 2 Kings 7:3 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 5:1.
  8. 2 Kings 7:3 tn Heb “until we die.”
  9. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city and we will die there.”
  10. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “fall.”
  11. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “keep us alive.”
  12. 2 Kings 7:4 tn Heb “we will die.” The paraphrastic translation attempts to bring out the logical force of their reasoning.
  13. 2 Kings 7:5 tn Heb “they arose to go to.”
  14. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “they ate and drank.”
  15. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “and they hid [it].”
  16. 2 Kings 7:8 tn Heb “and they took from there.”
  17. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”
  18. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “the light of the morning.”
  19. 2 Kings 7:9 tn Heb “punishment will find us.”
  20. 2 Kings 7:10 tn The MT has a singular form (“gatekeeper”), but the context suggests a plural. The pronoun that follows (“them”) is plural and a plural noun appears in v. 11. The Syriac Peshitta and the Targum have the plural here.
  21. 2 Kings 7:10 tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.”
  22. 2 Kings 7:10 tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.”
  23. 2 Kings 7:11 tn Heb “and the gatekeepers called out and they told [it] within the house of the king.”
  24. 2 Kings 7:12 tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 13).
  25. 2 Kings 7:13 tn Heb “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.” The MT is dittographic here; the words “that remain in it. Look they are like all the people of Israel” have been accidentally repeated. The original text read, “Let them take five of the remaining horses that remain in it. Look, they are like all the people of Israel that have come to an end.”
  26. 2 Kings 7:13 tn Heb “and let us send so we might see.”
  27. 2 Kings 7:14 tn Heb “and the king sent [them] after the Syrian camp.”
  28. 2 Kings 7:14 tn Heb “Go and see.”
  29. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Heb “went after.”
  30. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Heb “and look, all the road was full of clothes and equipment that Syria had thrown away in their haste.”
  31. 2 Kings 7:15 tn Or “messengers.”
  32. 2 Kings 7:16 sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 11 quarts (11 liters).
  33. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “the officer on whose hand he leans.”
  34. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “and the people trampled him in the gate and he died.”
  35. 2 Kings 7:17 tn Heb “just as the man of God had spoken, [the word] which he spoke when the king came down to him.”
  36. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” See the note at 7:2.
  37. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  38. 2 Kings 7:19 tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”tn In the Hebrew text vv. 18-19a are one lengthy sentence, “When the man of God spoke to the king…, the officer replied to the man of God, ‘Look…so soon?’” The translation divides this sentence up for stylistic reasons.

Eliseo predice abundancia de pan

Entonces Eliseo dijo: «Oigan la palabra del Señor. Así dice el Señor: “Mañana como a esta hora en la puerta de Samaria, una medida (7.3 litros) de flor de harina se venderá a un siclo (11.4 gramos de plata), y dos medidas de cebada a un siclo(A)”». El oficial real en cuyo brazo se apoyaba el rey, respondió al hombre de Dios, y dijo: «Mira, aunque el Señor hiciera ventanas en los cielos(B), ¿podría suceder tal cosa?». Entonces Eliseo dijo: «Bien, tú lo verás con tus propios ojos, pero no comerás de ello(C)».

Había cuatro leprosos a la entrada de la puerta, y se dijeron el uno al otro: «¿Por qué estamos aquí sentados esperando la muerte(D)? Si decimos: “Vamos a entrar en la ciudad”, como el hambre está en la ciudad, moriremos allí; y si nos sentamos aquí, también moriremos. Ahora pues, vayamos y pasemos al[a] campamento de los arameos(E). Si nos perdonan la vida, viviremos; y si nos matan, pues moriremos».

Los leprosos se levantaron al anochecer para ir al campamento de los arameos, y cuando llegaron a las afueras del campamento de los arameos, resultó que no había nadie allí. Porque el Señor había hecho que el ejército de los arameos oyera estruendo de carros y ruido de caballos, el estruendo de un gran ejército(F), de modo que se dijeron el uno al otro: «Ciertamente el rey de Israel ha tomado a sueldo contra nosotros a los reyes de los hititas(G) y a los reyes de los egipcios(H), para que vengan contra nosotros». Por lo cual se levantaron y huyeron(I) al anochecer, y abandonaron sus tiendas, sus caballos y sus asnos y el campamento tal como estaba, y huyeron para salvar sus vidas. Cuando los leprosos llegaron a las afueras del campamento, entraron en una tienda y comieron y bebieron, y se llevaron de allí plata y oro y ropas, y fueron y lo escondieron(J); y volvieron y entraron en otra tienda y de allí también se llevaron botín, y fueron y lo escondieron.

Entonces se dijeron el uno al otro: «No estamos haciendo bien. Hoy es día de buenas nuevas, pero nosotros estamos callados; si esperamos hasta la luz de la mañana, nos vendrá castigo. Vamos pues, ahora, y entremos a dar la noticia a la casa del rey». 10 Así que fueron y llamaron a los porteros de la ciudad, y les informaron: «Fuimos al campamento de los arameos, y vimos que no había nadie allí, ni siquiera se oía voz de hombre; solamente los caballos atados, también los asnos atados y las tiendas intactas». 11 Los porteros de la puerta llamaron, y lo anunciaron dentro de la casa del rey. 12 Entonces el rey se levantó de noche y dijo a sus siervos: «Ahora les diré lo que los arameos nos han hecho. Saben que estamos hambrientos(K); por tanto han salido del campamento para esconderse en el campo, diciendo: “Cuando salgan de la ciudad, los tomaremos vivos y entraremos en la ciudad(L)”».

13 Entonces uno de sus siervos respondió: «Deja que algunos hombres tomen cinco de los caballos que quedan, de los que quedan en la ciudad. Porque en todo caso les sucederá como a toda la multitud de Israel que queda en la ciudad, (como a toda la multitud de Israel que ya ha perecido), vamos a enviarlos y veamos qué sucede». 14 Así que tomaron dos carros con caballos, y el rey los envió en pos del ejército de los arameos, diciendo: «Vayan y vean». 15 Los siguieron hasta el Jordán, y resultó que todo el camino estaba lleno de vestidos y objetos diferentes que los arameos habían arrojado en su prisa. Entonces los mensajeros volvieron e informaron al rey.

16 Y el pueblo salió y saqueó el campamento de los arameos. Entonces una medida de flor de harina se vendió[b] a un siclo y dos medidas de cebada a un siclo, conforme a la palabra del Señor(M). 17 El rey había puesto a cargo de la puerta de la ciudad al oficial real en cuyo brazo se apoyaba(N); pero el pueblo lo atropelló junto a la puerta y murió, tal como había dicho el hombre de Dios, el cual habló cuando el rey descendió a verlo(O). 18 Aconteció tal como el hombre de Dios había hablado al rey, cuando dijo: «Mañana a estas horas a la puerta de Samaria dos medidas de cebada serán vendidas a un siclo y una medida de flor de harina a un siclo(P)». 19 Y el oficial real, había respondido al hombre de Dios, diciendo: «Mira, aunque el Señor hiciera ventanas en los cielos, ¿podría suceder tal cosa?». Y Eliseo le dijo: «Bien, tú lo verás con tus propios ojos, pero no comerás de ello(Q)». 20 Y así sucedió, porque el pueblo lo atropelló a la puerta, y murió.

Footnotes

  1. 7:4 Lit. caigamos en el.
  2. 7:16 Lit. era.