2 Kings 7
7
1 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah#sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 7 quarts. of finely milled flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’” 2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man#tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.” responded to the prophet,#tn Heb “man of God.” “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”#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. Elisha#tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity. said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”#tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”
3 Now four men with a skin disease#sn See the note at 2 Kgs 5:1. were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, “Why are we just sitting here waiting to die?#tn Heb “until we die.” 4 If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation,#tn Heb “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city and we will die there.” and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect#tn Heb “fall.” to the Syrian camp! If they spare us,#tn Heb “keep us alive.” we’ll live; if they kill us – well, we were going to die anyway.”#tn Heb “we will die.” The paraphrastic translation attempts to bring out the logical force of their reasoning. 5 So they started toward#tn Heb “they arose to go to.” the Syrian camp at dusk. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, there was no one there. 6 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 Egypt to attack us!” 7 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. 8 When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal.#tn Heb “they ate and drank.” They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all.#tn Heb “and they hid [it].” Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it#tn Heb “and they took from there.” and went and hid what they had taken. 9 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.#tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.” If we wait until dawn,#tn Heb “the light of the morning.” we’ll be punished.#tn Heb “punishment will find us.” So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.” 10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers#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. 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.#tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.” But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.”#tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.” 11 The gatekeepers relayed the news to the royal palace.#tn Heb “and the gatekeepers called out and they told [it] to the house of the king.”
12 The king got up in the night and said to his advisers,#tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 13). “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!)#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.” Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.”#tn Heb “and let us send so we might see.” 14 So they picked two horsemen and the king sent them out to track the Syrian army.#tn Heb “and the king sent [them] after the Syrian camp.” He ordered them, “Go and find out what’s going on.”#tn Heb “Go and see.” 15 So they tracked them#tn Heb “went after.” as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste.#tn Heb “and look, all the road was full of clothes and equipment that Syria had thrown away in their haste.” The scouts#tn Or “messengers.” went back and told the king. 16 Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp. A seah#sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 7 quarts. of finely milled flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, just as the Lord had said they would.#tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord.”
17 Now the king had placed the officer who was his right-hand man#tn Heb “the officer on whose hand he leans.” at the city gate. When the people rushed out, they trampled him to death in the gate.#tn Heb “and the people trampled him in the gate and he died.” This fulfilled the prophet’s word which he had spoken when the king tried to arrest him.#tn Heb “just as the man of God had spoken, [the word] which he spoke when the king came down to him.” 18 The prophet 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 replied to the prophet, “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?”#tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” See the note at 7:2. Elisha#tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity. said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”#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. 20 This is exactly what happened to him. The people trampled him to death in the city gate.
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2 Kings 7: NET
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