2 Kings 7:12-20

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,^[a] 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.

16 Then the people went out and plundered the Aramean camp. It was then that six quarts^[b] of fine meal [sold] for a shekel^[c] and 12 quarts^[d] of barley [sold] for a shekel,^[e] according to the word of the Lord.^[f]

17 The king had appointed the captain, his right-hand man, to be in charge of the gate, but the people trampled him in the gateway. He died, just as the man of God had predicted when the king came to him.

18 When the man of God had said to the king, "About this time tomorrow 12 quarts^[g] of barley [will sell] for a shekel^[h] and six quarts^[i] of fine meal [will sell] for a shekel^[j] at the gate of Samaria,"

19 this captain had answered the man of God, "Look, [even if] the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?" Elisha had said, "You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won't eat any of it."^[k]

20 This is what happened to him: the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

2 Kings 7:12-20 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.

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.
• [b] Lit a seah
• [c] About 1/2 ounce (of silver)
• [d] Lit two seahs
• [e] About 1/2 ounce (of silver)
• [f] 2 Kg 7:1-2
• [g] Lit two seahs
• [h] About 1/2 ounce (of silver)
• [i] Lit a seah
• [j] About 1/2 ounce (of silver)
• [k] 2 Kg 7:1-2