2 Kings 7:1-6

Elisha Promises Food

1 But Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD: thus says the LORD, ¹Tomorrow about this time a seah^[a] of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel,^[b] and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria."

2 Then ²the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, ³"If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?" But he said, "You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it."

The Syrians Flee

3 Now there were four men who were lepers^[c]⁴at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we die?

4 If we say, 'Let us enter the city,' the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die."

5 So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there.

6 For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians ⁵hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, "Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us ⁶the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us."

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2 Kings 7:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 7

This chapter begins with a prophecy of great plenty in Samaria on the morrow, and of the death of an unbelieving lord, 2Ki 7:1,2, relates the case of four lepers, who that night went into the Syrian camp, which was deserted, occasioned by the noise of chariots, horses, and a host, which they fancied they heard, 2Ki 7:3-9, the report which the lepers made to the king's household of this affair, and the method the king's servants took to know the truth of it, 2Ki 7:10-15 which, when confirmed, the people went out and spoiled the tents of the Syrians, whereby the prophecy of plenty was fulfilled, 2Ki 7:16, and the unbelieving lord having post at the gate of the city assigned him, was trod to death, and so the prediction concerning him had its accomplishment also, 2Ki 7:17-20.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 6

1. ver. 18
2. ver. 17, 19; [2 Kings 5:18]
3. Malachi 3:10; [Genesis 7:11]
4. [Leviticus 13:46]
5. [2 Kings 6:17; 2 Samuel 5:24; Job 15:21]
6. [1 Kings 10:29]

Footnotes 3

[a]. A seah was about 7 quarts or 7.3 liters
[b]. A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
[c]. Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.