2 Kings 7:13

13 One of his servants answered, "I suggest letting some men take five of the remaining horses that are left in the city - they're like everything else in Isra'el that remains, like everything else in Isra'el, practically finished - and we'll send and see."

2 Kings 7:13 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 7:13

And one of his servants answered and said, let some take, I
pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city,
&c.] Not having died through the famine as the rest:

behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it;
behold, I say, they are even as the multitude of Israel that are
consumed;
signifying, there was a like consumption among the horses as among the people, and they that remained were starving as they were; so that should those horses, and the men, fall into the hands of the Syrians, and perish, it would be no great matter; the loss would not be much, since they must perish if they continue in the city: according to the Vulgate Latin version, these five horses were all that were left:

and let us send and see;
whether the report of the lepers is true or not.

2 Kings 7:13 In-Context

11 The gatekeepers called and told it to the king's household inside.

12 Then the king got up in the night; he said to his servants, "I'll tell you what Aram has done to us. They know that we're hungry, so they've gone outside the camp and hidden in the countryside, saying, 'When they come out of the city, we'll take them alive and then get inside the city.'"

13 One of his servants answered, "I suggest letting some men take five of the remaining horses that are left in the city - they're like everything else in Isra'el that remains, like everything else in Isra'el, practically finished - and we'll send and see."

14 So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent after the army of Aram, saying, "Go, and see."

15 They went after them all the way to the Yarden, and found the entire distance strewn with clothing and other articles Aram had thrown away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.