Elisha answers the king's despair from the end of chapter 6 with an astonishing prophecy: by this time tomorrow, fine flour will sell for a shekel and barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria. A royal officer leaning on the king's arm scoffs: even if the LORD made windows in heaven, could this happen? Elisha replies that the officer will see it with his own eyes but will not eat any of it. The scene then shifts to four men with a skin disease sitting at the city gate, reasoning that they will die whether they stay or go, so they might as well surrender to the Aramean camp. At twilight they enter the camp and find it deserted. The LORD had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of a massive approaching force — chariots, horses, a great army — and they fled in panic, leaving everything behind: tents, horses, donkeys, the entire camp intact. The four men eat and drink, take silver and gold and clothing, and hide it. Then their conscience strikes them: this is a day of good news and they are keeping silent. If they wait until morning light, punishment will find them. They go back and report to the city gatekeepers, who report to the king's household. The king suspects a trap — the Arameans have hidden in the field and are waiting for the city to open. His servants suggest sending scouts with some of the remaining horses. Two chariot teams are sent and follow the Aramean trail all the way to the Jordan, finding the road strewn with clothing and equipment dropped in the panic. They report back. The people rush out and plunder the Aramean camp. The prices Elisha prophesied are fulfilled exactly: a seah of fine flour for a shekel, two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria. The king assigns the scoffing officer to manage the gate, and the crowd tramples him to death — he sees the abundance with his own eyes but never eats any of it, exactly as Elisha said.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
The chapter is structured around exact prophetic fulfillment. Elisha's double prophecy — the prices will drop and the officer will see but not eat — is verified down to the smallest detail. The instrument of deliverance is spectacularly unexpected: four men with skin disease, social outcasts sitting outside the gate, become the discoverers of God's provision. The LORD defeats the Aramean army not with a visible army but with sound — qol rekhev qol sus qol chayil gadol ('the sound of chariotry, the sound of horses, the sound of a great army'). The Arameans hear what Elisha's servant saw in 6:17: the divine military force. But where the servant saw and was reassured, the Arameans hear and are terrified. The same heavenly army that protects Israel destroys Aram's courage. The scoffing officer's death at the gate is not arbitrary punishment but precise fulfillment: the gate (sha'ar) is where prices are set and commerce happens, so the prophecy about prices at the gate is fulfilled at the gate, and the man who doubted the gate-prophecy dies at the gate.
Translation Friction
The four men with skin disease (metsora'im) are traditionally identified as 'lepers,' though the biblical term tsara'at covers a wider range of conditions than modern leprosy. Their marginal status — outside the gate, between the city and the enemy — makes them the perfect agents of discovery: they have nothing to lose. Their moral reasoning (verse 9) raises the question of whether their initial silence about the good news constitutes sin — they themselves conclude it does. The officer's death by trampling raises questions about proportionality: he expressed doubt, not defiance, and his skepticism was humanly reasonable. The text presents his death as prophetic fulfillment rather than divine punishment per se — Elisha described what would happen without framing it as retribution. The Aramean panic caused by divine sound parallels other holy-war texts where God fights by creating confusion (Judges 7, 1 Samuel 14).
Connections
The divine sound that routs the Arameans connects to Judges 7 (Gideon's trumpets and jars), 1 Samuel 7:10 (thunder against the Philistines), and 2 Chronicles 20:22-23 (the singers and ambushers). The four outcasts discovering provision for the starving city anticipates the gospel pattern where salvation comes through the marginalized. The 'windows of heaven' reference by the scoffing officer echoes Genesis 7:11 (the flood) and Malachi 3:10 (God opening heaven's windows to pour out blessing). Elisha's prophecy of exact market prices connects to the Joseph narrative (Genesis 41-47), where divinely revealed famine knowledge saves nations. The trampling at the gate fulfills the prophetic word with the specificity that characterizes Kings' theology of the prophetic word: every detail matters, every prediction lands.
Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: By this time tomorrow, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria."
KJV Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The prophecy is astonishingly precise: specific commodities (solet, 'fine flour'; se'orim, 'barley'), specific prices (sheqel for each measure), a specific location (sha'ar Shomron, 'gate of Samaria'), and a specific timeframe (ka-et machar, 'about this time tomorrow'). The prices represent normal or even cheap market rates — a total reversal from the famine prices of 6:25. The formula koh amar YHWH ('thus says the LORD') marks this as direct prophetic oracle.
The officer on whose arm the king was leaning answered the man of God, "Even if the LORD made windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?" Elisha said, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it."
KJV Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The shalish ('third man, officer, adjutant') is a high-ranking military official who serves as the king's personal support. His skepticism — hinneh YHWH oseh arubbot ba-shamayim ('even if the LORD made windows in heaven') — references the 'windows of heaven' from the flood narrative (Genesis 7:11) and the blessing promise of Malachi 3:10. He uses the most dramatic divine intervention he can imagine and still dismisses the prophecy. Elisha's response is not a curse but a prediction: hinnekha ro'eh be-einekha u-misham lo tokhel ('you will be seeing with your eyes but from there you will not eat'). Seeing without eating — witness without participation.
Now four men with a skin disease were sitting at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, "Why are we sitting here waiting to die?"
KJV And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The metsora'im ('those with tsara'at') sit at petach ha-sha'ar ('the opening of the gate') — the boundary between city and outside. Their skin condition excludes them from the city but the siege traps them near it. Their reasoning — mah anachnu yoshvim poh ad matnu ('why are we sitting here until we die?') — is the logic of people with nothing left to lose.
"If we go into the city, the famine is there and we will die. If we stay here, we will also die. So let us go over to the Aramean camp. If they let us live, we live. If they kill us, we just die."
KJV If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The logic is a three-option calculation where two options produce certain death and the third offers a chance of survival. The phrase niplah el machaneh Aram ('let us fall to the camp of Aram') uses the verb nafal ('to fall, to surrender, to defect'). Their final reasoning — im yechayunu nichyeh ve-im yemitunu vamatnu ('if they keep us alive we live, if they kill us we die') — has a resigned simplicity. They are already dead men choosing the direction of their death.
They got up at twilight and went to the edge of the Aramean camp. When they arrived, no one was there.
KJV And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The neshef ('twilight, dusk') is the transition time — between day and night, between despair and discovery. They come to qetseh machaneh Aram ('the edge of the Aramean camp') expecting interrogation or execution. Instead: ein sham ish ('there was no man there'). The three-word discovery changes everything.
The Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, the sound of a massive army. They said to one another, "The king of Israel has hired the Hittite kings and the Egyptian kings to attack us!"
KJV For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The 'Hittite kings' refers to the neo-Hittite kingdoms of northern Syria and southern Anatolia that survived the Bronze Age collapse — Carchemish, Hamath, and others. The 'kings of Egypt' may refer to local rulers of the fragmented Egyptian delta. The Arameans construct a plausible military scenario to explain the supernatural sound. God fights not by sending an army but by creating the perception of one.
They got up and fled at twilight, abandoning their tents, their horses, and their donkeys — the whole camp just as it was — and ran for their lives.
KJV Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase va-yanusu el nafsham ('they fled for their lives, toward their own souls') emphasizes the totality of their panic. They left everything — ohaleihem, suseihem, chamoreihem ('their tents, their horses, their donkeys') — the camp ka-asher hi ('just as it is'), frozen in place. An entire army abandoned its equipment, animals, and supplies out of sheer terror at a sound.
When these men with skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they went into one tent, ate and drank, then carried away silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid it. They came back, entered another tent, carried off more, and hid that too.
KJV And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verbs pile up in rapid sequence: va-yokhlu va-yishtu va-yis'u va-yelkhu va-yatminu va-yashuvu va-yavo'u ('they ate, drank, carried, went, hid, returned, entered') — the breathless pace of men gorging after starvation and hoarding after deprivation. The pattern of eating first, then looting, then hiding, reflects survival instinct followed by opportunism.
Then they said to each other, "What we are doing is not right. This is a day of good news, and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us. Come, let us go and report this to the king's household."
KJV Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase yom besorah hu ('it is a day of good news') uses besorah, the Hebrew word for 'good tidings, gospel' — the same root behind the later concept of evangelion. The men recognize a moral obligation: good news of deliverance must be shared. Their warning — u-metsaanu avon ('and guilt/punishment will find us') — acknowledges that hoarding salvation is itself a sin. The verb machshim ('being silent, keeping quiet') is the same word used in 1 Kings 22:3 of Israel 'sitting idle' regarding Ramoth-gilead.
They went and called out to the city gatekeepers and reported: "We went to the Aramean camp, and no one is there — not a person, not a human voice. Only horses tied up, donkeys tied up, and the tents standing just as they were."
KJV So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The report to the sho'er ha-ir ('gatekeeper of the city') is detailed and factual: no people, no sound, only tied animals and intact tents. The horses and donkeys still tethered (asur, 'bound, tied') confirms the abandonment was panicked — they did not even take their animals.
The gatekeepers called out, and the news was reported inside the king's palace.
KJV And he called the porters; and they told it to the king's house within.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The chain of communication: the four men report to the gatekeepers, the gatekeepers report to beit ha-melekh penimah ('the king's house inside'). The news travels from the social margin (diseased outcasts at the gate) inward to the center of power.
The king got up in the night and said to his officials, "Let me tell you what the Arameans are doing to us. They know we are starving, so they left their camp and hid in the field, thinking: 'When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and then enter the city.'"
KJV And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The king's suspicion is tactically reasonable — a feigned retreat to draw out a starving garrison is a known military strategy. His analysis — yadu ki re'evim anachnu ('they know that we are hungry') — shows he reads the situation as a trap. His caution, while wrong, is not foolish; it takes the counsel of his servants to overcome it.
One of his officials answered, "Let them take five of the remaining horses still left in the city — they are no worse off than the rest of Israel's population left here, who are as good as dead anyway. Let us send them and find out."
KJV 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, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of Israel that are consumed:) and let us send and see.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The servant's reasoning is pragmatic: the horses remaining are nearly dead from starvation anyway — hinnam ke-khol hamon Yisrael asher nish'aru vah ('they are like the whole multitude of Israel remaining in it') — so risking them costs nothing. The repetition emphasizes the point: everything in the city, human and animal, is on the edge of death. Five horses for a scouting mission is minimal risk for maximum information.
They took two chariot teams, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, "Go and see."
KJV They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The shenei rekhev susim ('two chariot-teams of horses') is a minimal reconnaissance force. The king's command lekhu u-re'u ('go and see') commits to investigation without committing to exposure. The caution balances the potential gain.
They followed the trail all the way to the Jordan, and the entire road was littered with clothing and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their panic. The scouts returned and reported to the king.
KJV And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The evidence trail stretches from the camp to the Jordan — kol ha-derekh mele'ah begadim ve-khelim ('the whole road was full of garments and vessels/equipment'). The verb hishlikhu ('they threw away') and the adverb be-hechafzam ('in their panicking, in their haste') paints a picture of soldiers shedding weight as they run. This is not an orderly withdrawal but a rout. The scouts have their answer.
The people rushed out and plundered the Aramean camp. A seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel — exactly as the LORD had spoken.
KJV And the people went out, and spoiled the camp of the Syrians. And a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase ki-dvar YHWH ('according to the word of the LORD') is the narrator's theological verdict: the exact prices Elisha prophesied in verse 1 have come true. The prophetic word is not approximate but precise. The abundance is so great that market prices collapse from famine levels to normal rates in a single day.
The king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate. The crowd trampled him in the gateway, and he died — just as the man of God had spoken when the king came down to him.
KJV And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The shalish is assigned to manage the gate (sha'ar) — the very location of the prophesied price fulfillment. The starving people rushing out to plunder trample him: va-yirmesuhu ha-am ba-sha'ar ('the people trampled him in the gate'). The phrase ka-asher dibber ish ha-Elohim ('as the man of God had spoken') connects back to verse 2. The officer sees the abundance (the prices are real) but dies before eating any of it.
It happened just as the man of God had told the king: "Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, by this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria."
KJV And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The narrator recapitulates the prophecy in full, repeating the exact terms — commodities, prices, timing, location — to demonstrate complete fulfillment. This repetition is characteristic of Kings' narrative theology: the prophetic word is spoken, then the fulfillment is narrated, then the connection is explicitly stated.
The officer had answered the man of God, "Even if the LORD made windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?" And Elisha had said, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it."
KJV And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The exchange from verse 2 is quoted verbatim — another instance of the narrator's technique of repeating the prophetic word to frame its fulfillment. The officer's skepticism and Elisha's response are now read in light of what has already happened, transforming doubt into dramatic irony.
And that is exactly what happened to him: the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.
KJV And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The final verse — va-yehi lo ken ('and so it was to him') — closes the chapter with absolute fulfillment. Both halves of Elisha's double prophecy have come true: the prices dropped as predicted, and the officer saw it but did not eat. The word of the LORD spoken through the prophet is the controlling force of the narrative.