And Eliseus said: Hear ye the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord: To morrow about this time a bushel of fine flour shall be sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, in the gate of Samaria.

Dixit autem Eliseus: Audite verbum Domini: Hæc dicit Dominus: In tempore hoc cras modius similæ uno statere erit, et duo modii hordei statere uno, in porta Samariæ.

Thereupon Eliseus announced a message from the Lord; Thus says the Lord, by this time to-morrow a silver piece will be buying a peck of wheat, or two pecks of barley, in the market-place at the gate of Samaria.

Then one of the lords, upon whose hand the king leaned, answering the man of God, said: If the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, can that possibly be which thou sayest? And he said: Thou shalt see it with thy eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

Respondens unus de ducibus, super cujus manum rex incumbebat, homini Dei, ait: Si Dominus fecerit etiam cataractas in cælo, numquid poterit esse quod loqueris? Qui ait: Videbis oculis tuis, et inde non comedes.

The king had one of his lords with him, to support him with his arm as he went; and this man mocked at the prophet’s words. Perhaps the Lord means to open the flood-gates of heaven, said he; then it might be as thou sayest. And Eliseus answered, The sight of it thou shalt have, but not the eating of it.

Now there were four lepers, at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another: What mean we to stay here till we die?

Quatuor ergo viri erant leprosi juxta introitum portæ: qui dixerunt ad invicem: Quid hic esse volumus donec moriamur?

Now turn we to four lepers, who were standing there in the open space round the city gate. They were saying to one another, This is no place to wait for death.

If we will enter into the city, we shall die with the famine: and if we will remain here, we must also die: come, therefore, and let us run over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare us, we shall live: but if they kill us, we shall but die.

sive ingredi voluerimus civitatem, fame moriemur: sive manserimus hic, moriendum nobis est: venite ergo, et transfugiamus ad castra Syriæ: si pepercerint nobis, vivemus: si autem occidere voluerint, nihilominus moriemur.

Enter we the city, we starve; abide we here, we shall die none the less. Come, let us give ourselves up to the Syrian army; it may be they will spare our lives; if they kill us, it is but another form of death.

So they arose in the evening, to go to the Syrian camp. And when they were come to the first part of the camp of the Syrians, they found no man there.

Surrexerunt ergo vesperi, ut venirent ad castra Syriæ. Cumque venissent ad principium castrorum Syriæ, nullum ibidem repererunt.

So, when night fell, they ventured out, to make for the Syrian camp; and as they reached the edge of it, never a man was to be seen.

For the Lord had made them hear, in the camp of Syria, the noise of chariots, and of horses, and of a very great army, and they said one to another: Behold the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hethites, and of the Egyptians, and they are come upon us.

Siquidem Dominus sonitum audiri fecerat in castris Syriæ, curruum, et equorum, et exercitus plurimi: dixeruntque ad invicem: Ecce mercede conduxit adversum nos rex Israël reges Hethæorum et Ægyptiorum, et venerunt super nos.

That night, the Lord had made a noise heard in the camp of Syria like the stir of chariots and horses, and a great host of men; and the word went round, The Hethite chiefs, the Egyptians are upon us! The king of Israel has hired them to attack us!

Wherefore they arose, and fled away in the dark, and left their tents, and their horses and asses in the camp, and fled, desiring to save their lives.

Surrexerunt ergo, et fugerunt in tenebris, et dereliquerunt tentoria sua, et equos et asinos, in castris, fugeruntque animas tantum suas salvare cupientes.

And with that the Syrians took to their heels, and fled away in the darkness, leaving tents and horses and asses behind them, there in the camp; fled for their lives.

So when these lepers were come to the beginning of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank: and they took from thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went, and hid it: and they came again, and went into another tent, and carried from thence in like manner, and hid it.

Igitur cum venissent leprosi illi ad principium castrorum, ingressi sunt unum tabernaculum, et comederunt et biberunt: tuleruntque inde argentum, et aurum, et vestes, et abierunt, et absconderunt: et rursum reversi sunt ad aliud tabernaculum, et inde similiter auferentes absconderunt.

So these lepers, still at the very edge of the camp, went into one of the tents, ate and drank there, carried off silver and gold and clothing and went off to hide it; came back to another tent, plundered that too, and hid away their plunder.

Then they said one to another: We do not well: for this is a day of good tidings. If we hold our peace, and do not tell it till the morning, we shall be charged with a crime: come, let us go and tell it in the king’s court.

Dixeruntque ad invicem: Non recte facimus: hæc enim dies boni nuntii est. Si tacuerimus et noluerimus nuntiare usque mane, sceleris arguemur: venite, eamus, et nuntiemus in aula regis.

Then one said to another, This is ill done; we are bearers of good news to-day. If we keep it secret, and wait till morning to spread it, that were shame to us. Back go we, and tell our tale in the king’s court.

So they came to the gate of the city, and told them, saying: We went to the camp of the Syrians, and we found no man there, but horses, and asses tied, and the tents standing.

Cumque venissent ad portam civitatis, narraverunt eis, dicentes: Ivimus ad castra Syriæ, et nullum ibidem reperimus hominem, nisi equos et asinos alligatos, et fixa tentoria.

When they reached the city gate, and made it known how they had been to the Syrian camp, and found never a man there, only horses and asses that stood tethered, beside pitched tents,

Then the guards of the gate went, and told it within in the king’s palace.

Ierunt ergo portarii, et nuntiaverunt in palatio regis intrinsecus.

the porters went off to the king’s palace, and there spread the story about.

And he arose in the night and said to his servants: I tell you what the Syrians have done to us: They know that we suffer great famine, and therefore they are gone out of the camp, and lie hid in the fields, saying: When they come out of the city we shall take them alive, and then we may get into the city.

Qui surrexit nocte, et ait ad servos suos: Dico vobis quid fecerint nobis Syri: sciunt quia fame laboramus, et idcirco egressi sunt de castris, et latitant in agris, dicentes: Cum egressi fuerint de civitate, capiemus eos vivos, et tunc civitatem ingredi poterimus.

The king himself rose, and held a midnight council. This is the trick, said he, the Syrians are playing us; they know we are hard put to it by famine, and they think to lure us out by leaving their camp and hiding in the open country; so they hope to capture us alive, and make their way into the city.

And one of his servants answered: Let us take the five horses that are remaining in the city (because there are no more in the whole multitude of Israel, for the rest are consumed,) and let us send and see.

Respondit autem unus servorum ejus: Tollamus quinque equos qui remanserunt in urbe (quia ipsi tantum sunt in universa multitudine Israël, alii enim consumpti sunt), et mittentes, explorare poterimus.

But one of his counsellors said, There are still half a dozen horses left in the city; so few among so many of us; all the rest have been slaughtered for food. Yet with these we may send out riders to report.

They brought therefore two horses, and the king sent into the camp of the Syrians, saying: Go, and see.

Adduxerunt ergo duos equos, misitque rex in castra Syrorum, dicens: Ite, et videte.

So two horses were fetched, and on these men were sent to search the camp of Syria.

And they went after them as far as the Jordan: and behold all the way was full of garments, and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their fright, and the messengers returned and told the king.

Qui abierunt post eos usque ad Jordanem: ecce autem omnis via plena erat vestibus et vasis quæ projecerant Syri cum turbarentur: reversique nuntii indicaverunt regi.

All the way to Jordan they followed in the enemy’s track, and still all the road was strewn with garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in the flight; and they brought back the report of it to the king.

And the people going out pillaged the camp of the Syrians: and a bushel of fine flour was sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, according to the word of the Lord.

Et egressus populus diripuit castra Syriæ: factusque est modius similæ statere uno, et duo modii hordei statere uno, juxta verbum Domini.

So the whole city went out and plundered the Syrian camp; and it was a silver piece for a peck of wheat, a silver piece for two pecks of barley, as the Lord had foretold.

And the king appointed that lord on whose hand he leaned, to stand at the gate: and the people trod upon him in the entrance of the gate; and he died, as the man of God had said, when the king came down to him.

Porro rex ducem illum, in cujus manu incumbebat, constituit ad portam: quem conculcavit turba in introitu portæ, et mortuus est, juxta quod locutus fuerat vir Dei, quando descenderat rex ad eum.

As for that courtier who had walked beside the king to support him, he was put in charge of the market-place; and such was the crowd at the gate entrance that he was trampled to death, as the servant of God had foretold when the king came to visit him.

And it came to pass according to the word of the man of God, which he spoke to the king, when he said: Two bushels of barley shall be for a stater, and a bushel of fine flour for a stater, at this very time to morrow in the gate of Samaria.

Factumque est secundum sermonem viri Dei quem dixerat regi, quando ait: Duo modii hordei statere uno erunt, et modius similæ statere uno, hoc eodem tempore cras in porta Samariæ:

It was nothing but truth Eliseus had told the king, By this time to-morrow a silver piece will be buying a peck of wheat, or two pecks of barley, in the market-place at the gate of Samaria.

When that lord answered the man of God, and said: Although the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, could this come to pass which thou sayest? And he said to him: Thou shalt see with thy eyes, and shalt not eat thereof.

quando responderat dux ille viro Dei, et dixerat: Etiamsi Dominus fecerit cataractas in cælo, numquid poterit fieri quod loqueris? Et dixit ei: Videbis oculis tuis, et inde non comedes.

Perhaps the Lord means to open the flood-gates of heaven, this courtier said; then it might be as thou sayest. And Eliseus told him he should have the sight of it but not the eating of it;

And so it fell out to him as it was foretold, and the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died.

Evenit ergo ei sicut prædictum fuerat, et conculcavit eum populus in porta, et mortuus est.

which prophecy was fulfilled in its turn, when he sat in the gateway there and the folk trampled him to death.