7:3 Now four men with a skin disease 1 were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, “Why are we just sitting here waiting to die? 2 7:4 If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation, 3 and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect 4 to the Syrian camp! If they spare us, 5 we’ll live; if they kill us – well, we were going to die anyway.” 6 7:5 So they started toward 7 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. 8 They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all. 9 Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it 10 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. 11 If we wait until dawn, 12 we’ll be punished. 13 So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.”
1 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 5:1.
2 tn Heb “until we die.”
3 tn Heb “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city and we will die there.”
4 tn Heb “fall.”
5 tn Heb “keep us alive.”
6 tn Heb “we will die.” The paraphrastic translation attempts to bring out the logical force of their reasoning.
7 tn Heb “they arose to go to.”
8 tn Heb “they ate and drank.”
9 tn Heb “and they hid [it].”
10 tn Heb “and they took from there.”
11 tn Heb “this day is a day of good news and we are keeping silent.”
12 tn Heb “the light of the morning.”
13 tn Heb “punishment will find us.”