2 Kings 7 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Elisha said, "Listen to Yahweh's word: By this time tomorrow, a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, right at the gate of Samaria."

The officer on whose arm the king leaned responded to the man of God: "Even if Yahweh opened floodgates in the sky, could this really happen?" Elisha said, "You'll see it with your own eyes, but you won't eat any of it."

Now, there were four men with a skin disease sitting at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, "Why are we just sitting here waiting to die?"

"If we say, 'Let's go into the city' — there's a famine in the city and we'll die there. And if we just sit here, we'll die too. So let's go over to the Aramean camp. If they let us live, we live. If they kill us, we were going to die anyway."

So they got up at dusk to go to the Aramean camp. But when they reached the edge of the camp — there was nobody there.

Because Yahweh had caused the Aramean army to hear what sounded like a massive army — the thunder of chariots, the pounding of horses, the roar of a huge fighting force. They had said to each other, "The king of Israel must have hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!"

So they had panicked and fled at dusk, abandoning their tents, their horses, their donkeys — the entire camp left exactly as it was — and they ran for their lives.

When the men with the skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank. Then they grabbed silver, gold, and clothing and went off and hid it all. They came back and went into another tent and grabbed stuff from there too, and went and hid that as well.

Then they said to each other, "What we're doing isn't right. This is a day of good news, and we're keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until morning light, we'll be held accountable. Let's go right now and report this to the king's household."

So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them: "We went to the Aramean camp, and there's nobody there — not a human voice. Just horses tied up and donkeys tied up, and the tents left exactly as they were."

The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported inside the king's palace.

The king got up in the middle of the night and said to his officials, "Let me tell you what the Arameans are doing to us. They know we're starving, so they've left the camp to hide in the fields, thinking, 'When they come out, we'll capture them alive and then break into the city.'"

One of his officials answered, "Let's send men with five of the horses that are still alive in the city — they're going to end up like the rest of Israel left here anyway; they're going to end up like all the Israelites who are already gone — so let's send them out to scout."

So they took two chariot teams with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, "Go and find out what happened."

They tracked them all the way to the Jordan, and the whole road was littered with clothing and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their panic. The scouts came back and reported to the king.

Then the people rushed out and plundered the Aramean camp. And just as Yahweh had said, a measure of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley sold for a shekel.

Now the king had put the officer — the one he leaned on — in charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said when the king came to see him.

It happened exactly as the man of God had told the king: "Two measures of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel — this will happen by tomorrow at this time, at the gate of Samaria."

And the officer had said to the man of God, "Even if Yahweh opened floodgates in the sky, could this really happen?" And Elisha had said, "You'll see it with your own eyes, but you won't eat any of it."

And that's exactly what happened to him — the people trampled him at the gate, and he died.