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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>2 Kings 7 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_kings/7.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/2_kings/7-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > 2 Kings 7</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_kings/6.htm" title="2 Kings 6">◄</a> 2 Kings 7 <a href="../2_kings/8.htm" title="2 Kings 8">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_1"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.1" class="v12_7_1">1</span>Elisha answered, “I have a message for you. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> promises that tomorrow here in Samaria, you will be able to buy a large sack of flour or two large sacks of barley for almost nothing.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_2"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.2" class="v12_7_2">2</span>The chief officer there with the king replied, “I don't believe it! Even if the <span class="nd">Lord</span> sent a rainstorm, it couldn't produce that much grain by tomorrow.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_2">“You will see it happen, but you won't eat any of the food,” Elisha warned him.</span></p><h3 class="s1">The Syrian Army Stops Its Attack</h3><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_3"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.3" class="v12_7_3">3</span>About the same time, four men with leprosy<a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.7.3!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> were just outside the gate of Samaria. They said to each other, “Why should we sit here, waiting to die? </span><span class="v12_7_4"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.4" class="v12_7_4">4</span>There's nothing to eat in the city, so we would starve if we went inside. But if we stay out here, we will die for sure. Let's sneak over to the Syrian army camp and surrender. They might kill us, but they might not.” </span><span class="v12_7_5"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.5-2Kgs.7.8" class="v12_7_5">5-8</span>That evening the four men got up and left for the Syrian camp.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_5">As they walked toward the camp, the Lord caused the Syrian troops to hear what sounded like the roar of a huge cavalry. The soldiers said to each other, “Listen! The king of Israel must have hired Hittite and Egyptian troops to attack us. Let's get out of here!” So they ran out of their camp that night, leaving their tents and horses and donkeys.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_5">When the four men with leprosy reached the edge of the Syrian camp, no one was there. They walked into one of the tents, where they ate and drank, before carrying off clothes, as well as silver and gold. They hid all this, then walked into another tent; they took what they wanted and hid it too.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_9"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.9" class="v12_7_9">9</span>They said to each other, “This isn't right. Today is a day to celebrate, and we haven't told anyone else what has happened. If we wait until morning, we will be punished. Let's go to the king's palace at once and tell the good news.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_10"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.10" class="v12_7_10">10</span>They went back to Samaria and shouted up to the guards at the gate, “We've just come from the Syrian army camp, and all the soldiers are gone! The tents are empty, and the horses and donkeys are still tied up. We didn't see or hear anybody.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_11"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.11" class="v12_7_11">11</span>The guards reported the news to the king's palace. </span><span class="v12_7_12"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.12" class="v12_7_12">12</span>The king got out of bed and said to his officers, “I know what those Syrians are doing. They know we're starving, so they're hiding in the fields, hoping we will go out to look for food. When we do, they can capture us and take over our city.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_13"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.13" class="v12_7_13">13</span>One of his officers replied, “We have a few horses left—why don't we let some men take five of them and go to the Syrian camp and see what's happening? We're going to die anyway like those who have already died.”<a href="#fn" id="link_2Kgs.7.13!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v12_7_14"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.14" class="v12_7_14">14</span>They found two chariots, and the king commanded the men to find out what had happened to the Syrian troops.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_15"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.15" class="v12_7_15">15</span>The men rode as far as the Jordan River. All along the way they saw clothes and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away as they escaped. Then they went back to the king and told him what they had seen.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_16"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.16" class="v12_7_16">16</span>At once the people went to the Syrian camp and carried off what was left. They took so much that a large sack of flour and two large sacks of barley sold for almost nothing, just as the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had promised.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v12_7_17"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.17" class="v12_7_17">17</span>The king of Israel had put his chief officer in charge of the gate, but he died when the people trampled him as they rushed out of the city. </span><span class="v12_7_18"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.18" class="v12_7_18">18</span>Earlier, when the king was at Elisha's house, Elisha had told him that flour or barley would sell for almost nothing. </span><span class="v12_7_19"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.19" class="v12_7_19">19</span>But the officer refused to believe that even the <span class="nd">Lord</span> could do that. So Elisha warned him that he would see it happen, but would not eat any of the food. </span><span class="v12_7_20"><span class="reftext" id="2Kgs.7.20" class="v12_7_20">20</span>And that's exactly what happened—the officer was trampled to death.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">7.3 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">leprosy: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 5.1.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">7.13 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">We're going … died: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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