Text -- 2 Kings 7:1-11 (NET)

7:1 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah of finely milled flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’” 7:2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man responded to the prophet, “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?” Elisha said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!” 7:3 Now four men with a skin disease were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, “Why are we just sitting here waiting to die? 7:4 If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation, and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect to the Syrian camp! If they spare us, we’ll live; if they kill us– well, we were going to die anyway.” 7:5 So they started toward the Syrian camp at dusk. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, there was no one there. 7:6 The Lord had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a large army. Then they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has paid the kings of the Hittites and Egypt to attack us!” 7:7 So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. 7:8 When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal. They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all. Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it and went and hid what they had taken. 7:9 Then they said to one another, “It’s not right what we’re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven’t told anyone. If we wait until dawn, we’ll be punished. So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.” 7:10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city. They told them, “We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn’t even hear a man’s voice. But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.” 7:11 The gatekeepers relayed the news to the royal palace.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Ki 7:1

¹ sn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about 7 quarts.

NET Notes: 2Ki 7:2

¹ tn Heb “the officer on whose hand the king leans.”

² tn Heb “man of God.”

³ tn Heb “the Lord was making holes in the sky, could this thing be?” Opening holes in the sky would allow the waters stored up there to pour to the earth and assure a good crop. But, the officer argues, even if this were to happen, it would take a long time to grow and harvest the crop.

⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “you will not eat from there.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 7:3

¹ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 5:1.

² tn Heb “until we die.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 7:4

¹ tn Heb “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city and we will die there.”

² tn Heb “fall.”

³ tn Heb “keep us alive.”

⁴ tn Heb “we will die.” The paraphrastic translation attempts to bring out the logical force of their reasoning.

NET Notes: 2Ki 7:5

¹ tn Heb “they arose to go to.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 7:8

¹ tn Heb “they ate and drank.”

² tn Heb “and they hid [it].”

³ tn Heb “and they took from there.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 7:9

¹ tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”

² tn Heb “the light of the morning.”

³ tn Heb “punishment will find us.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 7:10

¹ tn The MT has a singular form (“gatekeeper”), but the context suggests a plural. The pronoun that follows (“them”) is plural and a plural noun appears in v. 11. The Syriac Peshitta and the Targum have the plural here.

² tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.”

³ tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 7:11

¹ tn Heb “and the gatekeepers called out and they told [it] to the house of the king.”