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Haftarah for Metzorah: Melakhiym Bet (II Kings) 7:3 - 7:20 |
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Melakhiym
Bet (II
Ki) 7:3-20 (The king spoken of here is Ben-Hadad king of 3
Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city
gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? 4
If 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 Syrians and surrender. If they spare us, we live and if they kill
us, then we die." 5
At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Syrians. When
they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, 6
for YHWH
had caused the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a
great army, so that they said to one another, "Look, the king of
Yisrael (Melekh Yisrael) has hired the Hittite (Chittiy=descendant of
Cheth) and Egyptian (Mitzrayim) kings to attack us!" 7
So 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. 8
The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered
one of the tents. They ate and drank and carried away 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. 9
Then they said to each other, "We're not doing 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." 10
So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told
them, "We went into the Syrian camp and not a man was there. There
was not a sound of anyone, only tethered horses and donkeys and the
tents left just as they were." 11
The gatekeepers shouted the news and it was reported within the
palace. 12
The king got up in the night and said to his officers, "I
will tell you what the Syrians 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.'" 13
One 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 B’nei Yisrael left here, yes, they will only be like all B’nei
Yisrael who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what
happened." 14
So they selected two chariots with their horses and the king sent
them after the Syrian army. He commanded the drivers, "Go and find
out what has happened." 15
They followed them as far as the Jordan (Ha Yarden) and they
found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Syrians
had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and
reported to the king. 16
Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians.
So a seah of flour (about 1/3 bushel) sold for a shekel and two seahs of
barley (about 2/3 bushel) sold for a shekel as YHWH
had said. 17
Now 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 Elohiym had foretold when the king came down to his house. 18
It happened as the man of Elohiym had said to the king:
"About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour(about 1/3 bushel) will
sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley (about 2/3 bushel) for a
shekel at the gate of 19
The officer had said to the man of Elohiym, "Look, even if YHWH should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" The
man of Elohiym had replied, "You will see it with your own eyes but
you will not eat any of it!" 20
And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled
him in the gateway and he died.
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