1ኤልሳዕም፣ “እንግዲህ የእግዚአብሔርን ቃል ስማ፤ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘በነገው ዕለት በዚሁ ሰዓት፣ በሰማርያ በር አንድ መስፈሪያ ማለፊያ ዱቄት በአንድ ሰቅል፣ ሁለት መስፈሪያ ገብስም በአንድ ሰቅል ይሸጣል’ ” አለ።
2ንጉሡ በክንዱ ላይ የተደገፈውም የጦር አለቃ፣ የእግዚአብሔርን ሰው፣ “እንዲያው ለመሆኑ፣ እግዚአብሔር የሰማያትን መስኮቶች ቢከፍት እንኳ ይህ ሊሆን ይችላልን?” ሲል ጠየቀው።
ኤልሳዕም፣ “ይህን አንተው ራስህ በዐይንህ ታየዋለህ፤ ይሁን እንጂ ከዚያ አንዳች አትቀምስም” አለው።
ከበባው ተወገደ
3በዚህ ጊዜ የሚያሠቅቅ የቈዳ በሽታ የያዛቸው አራት ሰዎች በከተማዪቱ መግቢያ በር አጠገብ ነበሩ፤ እነርሱም እርስ በርሳቸው እንዲህ ተባባሉ፤ “እስክንሞት ድረስ በዚህ የምንቈየው ለምንድን ነው? 4ታዲያ፣ ‘ወደ ከተማዪቱ እንግባ ብንል’ በዚያም ራብ ስላለ እንሞታለን፤ በዚሁም ብንሆን ያው መሞታችን አይቀርም፤ ስለዚህ ወደ ሶርያውያኑ ሰፈር ዝም ብለን እንሂድ፤ ዝም ካሉን ሕይወታችን ትተርፋለች፤ ከገደሉንም ሞቶ መገላገል ነው።”
5ከዚያም መሸትሸት ሲል ተነሥተው ወደ ሶርያውያን ሰፈር ሄዱ፤ ወደ ሰፈሩ ጥግ ሲደርሱም አንድም ሰው በዚያ አልነበረም። 6ይህ የሆነበትም ምክንያት፣ እግዚአብሔር የሠረገሎችንና የፈረሶችን እንዲሁም የብዙ ሰራዊት ድምፅ ሶርያውያን እንዲሰሙ አድርጎ ስለ ነበር ነው፤ እርስ በእርሳቸውም፣ “እነሆ፣ የእስራኤል ንጉሥ በእኛ ላይ አደጋ ለመጣል፣ የኬጢያውያንንና የግብፃውያንን ነገሥታት ቀጥሮ አምጥቶብናል” ተባባሉ። 7ከዚያም መሸትሸት ሲል ተነሥተው ሸሹ፤ ድንኳኖቻቸውን፣ ፈረሶቻቸውንና አህዮቻቸውንም አልወሰዱም ነፍሳቸውን ብቻ ለማዳን ሲሉ ሰፈሩን እንዲሁ እንዳለ ትተው ሄዱ።
8ለምጽ ያለባቸውም ሰዎች ወደ ሰፈሩ አጠገብ ከደረሱ በኋላ፣ ከድንኳኖቹ ወደ አንዱ ገብተው በሉ፤ ጠጡም፤ ከዚያም ብር፣ ወርቅና ልብስ ይዘው በመሄድ ደበቁት። ተመልሰው በመምጣትም ወደ ሌላው ድንኳን ገብተው ሌሎች ነገሮችን በመውሰድ እንደዚሁ ደበቁ።
9እርስ በርሳቸውም፣ “ያደረግነው ትክክል አይደለም፤ ዕለቱ የምሥራች ቀን ነው፤ እኛ ግን የራሳችን ብቻ አደረግነው፤ እስኪነጋም ከቈየን በደለኞች እንሆናለን፤ ስለዚህ ወደ ቤተ መንግሥት በፍጥነት ሄደን እንንገር” ተባባሉ።
10ስለዚህ ሄደው የከተማዪቱን መግቢያ በር ጠባቂዎች ጮኸው በመጥራት፣ “ወደ ሶርያውያን ሰፈር ገባን፤ እዚያም ከታሰሩ ፈረሶችና አህዮች በቀር አንድም ሰው አልነበረም፤ የማንም ድምፅ አልተሰማም፤ ድንኳኖቹም እንዳሉ ናቸው” ብለው ነገሯቸው። 11የበሩ ጠባቂዎችም ይህንኑ አስተጋቡ፤ ዜናውም በቤተ መንግሥቱ ተሰማ።
12ንጉሡም በሌሊት ተነሥቶ ለጦር አለቆቹ እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “ሶርያውያን ያደረጉብንን እነግራችኋለሁ፤ መራባችንን ስለሚያውቁ፣ ‘መቼም መውጣታቸው አይቀርም፤ ከዚያም ከነሕይወታቸው እንማርካቸዋለን፤ እኛም ሰተት ብለን ወደ ከተማዪቱ እንገባለን’ በማለት በገጠር ለመደበቅ ከሰፈራቸው ወጥተዋል።”
13ከጦር አለቆቹም አንዱ እንዲህ አለ፤ “ጥቂት ሰዎች በከተማዪቱ ውስጥ ከተረፉት ፈረሶች አምስቱን ይዘው ይሂዱ፤ ዕጣ ፈንታቸውም በዚህ ከቀሩት እስራኤላውያን ሁሉ ዕድል ጋር አንድ ነው፤ የሚጠብቃቸው ቢኖር በዚህ በሙሉ እንዳለቁት እስራኤላውያን መሆን ብቻ ነው፤ ስለዚህ እንላካቸውና የሆነውን እንይ።”
14ስለዚህ ሁለት ሠረገሎች ከነፈረሶቻቸው መረጡ፤ ንጉሡም፣ “ሂዱና የሆነውን ነገር እዩ” ብሎ ከሶርያውያን ሰራዊት በኋላ እንዲሄዱ ላካቸው። 15እነርሱም እስከ ዮርዳኖስ ድረስ ተከተሏቸው። ሶርያውያን በጥድፊያ ሲሸሹ፣ የጣሉትንም ልብስና ዕቃ በየመንገዱ ላይ ተበታትኖ አገኙ፤ መልክተኞቹም ተመልሰው ይህንኑ ለንጉሡ ነገሩት። 16ከዚያም ሕዝቡ ወጥቶ የሶርያውያንን ሰፈር በዘበዘ፤ ስለዚህ እግዚአብሔር እንደ ተናገረው አንድ መስፈሪያ ማለፊያ ዱቄት በአንድ ሰቅል፣ ሁለት መስፈሪያ ገብስም በአንድ ሰቅል ተሸጠ።
17በዚህ ጊዜ ንጉሡ እጁን ይደግፈው የነበረውን የጦር አለቃ፣ የቅጥሩ በር ኀላፊ አድርጎት ነበርና በበራፉ መተላለፊያ ላይ ሕዝቡ ሲጋፋ ረጋገጠው፤ ያ የእግዚአብሔር ሰው ንጉሡ ወደ እርሱ በመጣ ጊዜ አስቀድሞ እንደ ተናገረውም የጦር አለቃው ሞተ። 18እንዲሁም የእግዚአብሔር ሰው ለንጉሡ፣ “ነገ በዚሁ ሰዓት በሰማርያ በር ላይ አንድ መስፈሪያ ዱቄት በአንድ ሰቅል፣ ሁለት መስፈሪያ ገብስም በአንድ ሰቅል ይሸጣል” ያለውም ተፈጸመ።
19የጦር አለቃው ለእግዚአብሔር ሰው፣ “እግዚአብሔር የሰማይን መስኮቶች ቢከፍት እንኳ ይህ እንዴት ሊሆን ይችላል?” ብሎት ስለ ነበር፣ የእግዚአብሔር ሰው፣ “ይህን አንተው ራስህ ታያለህ፤ ከዚህ ግን አንዳች አትበላም” ሲል መልሶለት ነበር። 20በበሩ መተላለፊያ ላይ ሕዝቡ ረጋግጦት ስለ ሞተም፣ የተነገረበት በትክክል ደረሰ።
1Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah7:1 That is, probably about 12 pounds or about 5.5 kilograms of flour; also in verses 16 and 18 of the finest flour will sell for a shekel7:1 That is, about 2/5 ounce or about 12 grams; also in verses 16 and 18 and two seahs7:1 That is, probably about 20 pounds or about 9 kilograms of barley; also in verses 16 and 18 of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”
2The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?”
“You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”
The Siege Lifted
3Now there were four men with leprosy7:3 The Hebrew for leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin; also in verse 8. at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? 4If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”
5At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, 6for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” 7So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.
8The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.
9Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”
10So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a sound of anyone—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.” 11The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.
12The king got up in the night and said to his officers, “I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, ‘They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.’ ”
13One of his officers answered, “Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here—yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened.”
14So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, “Go and find out what has happened.” 15They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the king. 16Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of the finest flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the Lord had said.
17Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. 18It happened as the man of God had said to the king: “About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”
19The officer had said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” The man of God had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” 20And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.
