2 Kings 7:13

13 But one of his servants responded, "Please, let [messengers] take five of the horses that are left in the city. [The messengers] are like the whole multitude of Israelites who will die,^[a] so let's send them 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 out, and [the news] was reported to the king's household.

12 So the king got up in the night and said to his servants, "Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide in the open country, thinking, 'When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and go into the city.' "

13 But one of his servants responded, "Please, let [messengers] take five of the horses that are left in the city. [The messengers] are like the whole multitude of Israelites who will die, so let's send them and see."

14 [The messengers] took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, "Go and see."

15 So they followed them as far as the Jordan. They saw that the whole way was littered with clothes and equipment the Arameans had thrown off in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.

Footnotes

• [a]. LXX, Syr, Vg, many Hb mss; MT reads left in it. Indeed, they are like the whole multitude of Israel that are left in it; indeed, they are like the whole multitude of Israel who will die.