2 Kings 7:1-11

Elisha Promises Food

1 Then Elisha said, "Listen to the word of the LORD; thus says the LORD, '¹Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.' "

2 ²The royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of God and said, "Behold, ³if the LORD should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?" Then he said, "Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it."

Four Lepers Relate Arameans' Flight

3 Now there were four ⁴leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, "Why do we sit here until we die?

4 "If we say, 'We will enter the city,' then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us go over to ⁵the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, we will but die."

5 They arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there.

6 For ⁶the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, "Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us ⁷the kings of the Hittites and ⁸the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us."

7 Therefore they ⁹arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp just as it was, and fled for their life.

8 When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and ¹⁰carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also, and went and hid them.

9 Then they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household."

10 So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, saying, "We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor the voice of man, only * the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were."

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

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2 Kings 7:1-11 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 10

1. 2 Kings 7:18
2. 2 Kings 5:18; 2 Kings 7:17, 19
3. Genesis 7:11; Malachi 3:10
4. Leviticus 13:45, 46; Numbers 5:2-4; Numbers 12:10-14
5. 2 Kings 6:24
6. 2 Samuel 5:24
7. 1 Kings 10:29
8. 2 Chronicles 12:2, 3; Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 36:9
9. Psalms 48:4-6; Proverbs 28:1
10. Joshua 7:21

Footnotes 4

[a]. Heb "seah"
[b]. Lit "from there"
[c]. Lit "fall"
[d]. Lit "find"