2 Kings 7:1

1 Elisha answered, "Listen to the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow 24 cups of the best flour will sell for half an ounce of silver in the gateway to Samaria. And 48 cups of barley will sell for half an ounce of silver."

2 Kings 7:1 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 7:1

Then Elisha said, hear the word of the Lord
This he said to the king and those that were with him:

thus saith the Lord, tomorrow, about this time;
which very probably was the forenoon:

shall a measure of fine flour [be sold] for a shekel;
"a seah", the measure here spoken of, or "saturn", according to some ^F18, was a gallon and an half; but Bishop Cumberland ^F19 makes it two wine gallons and an half; and a shekel, according to his accurate computation, was two shillings and four pence farthing, and near the eighth part of one {t}:

and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria;
where the market was kept; the same sort of measure and of money is here used as before; and we learn from hence that a measure of wheat was equal to two of barley.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Godwin, ut supra. (Moses & Aaron, B. 6. c. 9.)
F19 Of Scripture Weights and Measures, c. 3. p. 86.
F20 lb. c. 4. p. 104, 105.

2 Kings 7:1 In-Context

1 Elisha answered, "Listen to the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow 24 cups of the best flour will sell for half an ounce of silver in the gateway to Samaria. And 48 cups of barley will sell for half an ounce of silver."

2 The servant on whose arm the king was leaning answered the man of God, "Could this happen even if the LORD poured rain through windows in the sky?" Elisha replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you won't eat any of it."

3 Four men with skin diseases were at the entrance of the city gate. One of them asked, "Why are we sitting here waiting to die?

4 If we go into the city, the famine is also there, and we'll still die. But if we stay here, we'll die. So let's go to the Aramean camp. If they give us something to keep us alive, we'll live. But if they kill us, we'll die anyway."

5 So they started out at dusk to go into the Aramean camp. When they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there.