2The officer on whose arm the king was leaning replied to the man of God, "Even if the Lord were to open the floodgates of heaven, could this happen?" Elisha answered, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it."
3Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the gate. They said to each other, "Why should we sit 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 twilight, they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, they found no one there.
6For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so 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 twilight, abandoning their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.
8The men with 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, entered another tent, 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 and report this at the royal palace."
10So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city, telling them, "We went to the Aramean camp and found no one there—not a single man—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were."
11The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported inside the palace.