The Pillars of Three Faiths: Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran. Various Authors

²⁷And he said: 'If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the threshing-floor, or out of the winepress?' ²⁸And the king said unto her: 'What aileth thee?' And she answered: 'This woman said unto me: Give thy son, that we may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son to-morrow. ²⁹So we boiled my son, and did eat him; and I said unto her on the next day: Give thy son, that we may eat him; and she hath hid her son.' ³⁰And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes—now he was passing by upon the wall—and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. ³¹Then he said: 'God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.'

      ³²But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him; but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders: 'See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away my head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold the door fast against him; is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?' ³³And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him; and [the king] said: 'Behold, this evil is of the Lord; why should I wait for the Lord any longer?' 7¹And 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.' ²Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said: 'Behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might this thing be?' And he said: 'Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.'

      ³Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said one to another: 'Why sit we here until we die? ⁴If 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 Arameans; if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.' ⁵And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Arameans; and when they were come to the outermost part of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no man there. ⁶For the Lord had made the host of the Arameans 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.' ⁷Wherefore 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. ⁸And when these lepers came to the outermost 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 they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.

      ⁹Then 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, punishment will overtake us; now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household.' ¹⁰So they came and called unto the porters of the city; and they told them, saying.' We came to the camp of the Arameans, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the asses tied, and the tents as they were.' ¹¹And the porters called, and they told it to the king's household within. ¹²And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants: 'I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are 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 take them alive, and get into the city.' ¹³And 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, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are consumed—and let us send and see.' ¹⁴They took therefore two chariots with horses; and the king sent after the host of the Arameans, saying: 'Go and see.' ¹⁵And they went after them unto the Jordan; and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Arameans had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king.

      ¹⁶And the people went out, and spoiled the camp of the Arameans. So 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. ¹⁷And the king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate; and the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. ¹⁸And 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'; ¹⁹and that captain 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'; ²⁰it came to pass even so unto him; for the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died.

      8Now Elisha had spoken unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying: 'Arise, and go thou and thy household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn; for the Lord hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.' ²And the woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of God; and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. ³And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines; and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land. ⁴Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying: 'Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.' ⁵And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life him that was dead, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said: 'My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.' ⁶And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying: 'Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.'

      ⁷And Elisha came to Damascus; and Ben-hadad the king of Aram was sick; and it was told him, saying.' The man of God is come hither.' ⁸And the king said unto Hazael: 'Take a present in thy hand, and go meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying: Shall I recover of this sickness?' ⁹So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him, and said: 'Thy son Ben-hadad king of Aram hath sent me to thee, saying: Shall I recover of this sickness?' ¹⁰And Elisha said unto him: 'Go, say unto him: Thou shalt surely recover; howbeit the Lord hath shown me that he shall surely die.' ¹¹And he settled his countenance stedfastly upon him, until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept. ¹²And Hazael said: 'Why weepeth my lord?' And he answered: 'Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strongholds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their women with child.' ¹³And Hazael said: 'But what is thy servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?' And Elisha answered: 'The Lord hath shown me that thou shalt be king over Aram.' ¹⁴Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him: 'What said Elisha to thee?' And he answered: 'He told me that thou wouldest surely recover.' ¹⁵And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took the coverlet, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his stead.

      ¹⁶And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being the king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. ¹⁷Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁹Howbeit the Lord would not destroy Judah, for David His servant's sake, as He promised him to give unto him a lamp and to his children alway.

      ²⁰In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. ²¹Then Joram passed over to Zair, and all his chariots