There was a small town with only a few people, and a great king came with his army and besieged it.

就是有一小城，其中的人数稀少，有大君王来攻击，修筑营垒，将城围困。

就是有一人口稀少的小城，遇大君王前来攻击，修筑营垒，将城围困。

就是有一人口稀少的小城，遇大君王前来攻击，修筑营垒，将城围困。

有一个势力强大的君王来攻击一个人口不多的小城，他建造营垒围困这城。

有一座小城，人数不多；有一个大君王来进攻，把它包围，建造巨大的高垒攻城。

有一座小城，城中的人很少；一个大君王来到，把它包围，并建造巨大的高垒来攻城。

就是有一小城，其中的人數稀少，有大君王來攻擊，修築營壘，將城圍困。

就是有一人口稀少的小城，遇大君王前來攻擊，修築營壘，將城圍困。

就是有一人口稀少的小城，遇大君王前來攻擊，修築營壘，將城圍困。

有一個勢力強大的君王來攻擊一個人口不多的小城，他建造營壘圍困這城。

有一座小城，人數不多；有一個大君王來進攻，把它包圍，建造巨大的高壘攻城。

有一個小城，裏邊的人稀少；有一個大王來攻擊它，圍繞它，修築大高壘來攻打它。

有一座小城，城中的人很少；一個大君王來到，把它包圍，並建造巨大的高壘來攻城。

有一小邑、其人鮮少、有一大王至而圍之、築高壘以攻之、

設也城邑褊小、人民鮮少、大國之君圍之、築高壘以環攻、

即如有一小邑、其中人民稀少、大力之王來攻、築高壘以圍之、

There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it.

There was once a small city. Only a few people lived there. A powerful king attacked it. He brought in war machines all around it.

There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it.

There was a small city with few men in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege works against it.

there was a small city with few men in it, and a great king came to it, surrounded it, and constructed large siegeworks against it.

There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it.

There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.

There was a small city with few men in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege works against it.

[ There was] a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:

There was once a small city with a few men in it, and a mighty king attacked it, besieging it and building strong siege works against it.

There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.

Some time later, however, King Ben hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged Samaria.As a result, there was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces of silver.One day as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him,“ Please help me, my lord the king!”He answered,“ If the Lord doesn’t help you, what can I do? I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from the press to give you.”But then the king asked,“ What is the matter?” She replied,“ This woman said to me:‘ Come on, let’s eat your son today, then we will eat my son tomorrow.’So we cooked my son and ate him. Then the next day I said to her,‘ Kill your son so we can eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.”When the king heard this, he tore his clothes in despair. And as the king walked along the wall, the people could see that he was wearing burlap under his robe next to his skin.“ May God strike me and even kill me if I don’t separate Elisha’s head from his shoulders this very day,” the king vowed.Elisha was sitting in his house with the elders of Israel when the king sent a messenger to summon him. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders,“ A murderer has sent a man to cut off my head. When he arrives, shut the door and keep him out. We will soon hear his master’s steps following him.”While Elisha was still saying this, the messenger arrived. And the king said,“ All this misery is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”Elisha replied,“ Listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord says: By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, six quarts of choice flour will cost only one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain will cost only one piece of silver.”The officer assisting the king said to the man of God,“ That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!” But Elisha replied,“ You will see it happen with your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!”Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates.“ Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other.“ We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway.”So at twilight they set out for the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there!For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching.“ The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!” they cried to one another.So they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, as they fled for their lives.When the men with leprosy arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and hid it.Finally, they said to each other,“ This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”So they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened.“ We went out to the Aramean camp,” they said,“ and no one was there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there wasn’t a single person around!”Then the gatekeepers shouted the news to the people in the palace.The king got out of bed in the middle of the night and told his officers,“ I know what has happened. The Arameans know we are starving, so they have left their camp and have hidden in the fields. They are expecting us to leave the city, and then they will take us alive and capture the city.”One of his officers replied,“ We had better send out scouts to check into this. Let them take five of the remaining horses. If something happens to them, it will be no worse than if they stay here and die with the rest of us.”So two chariots with horses were prepared, and the king sent scouts to see what had happened to the Aramean army.They went all the way to the Jordan River, following a trail of clothing and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their mad rush to escape. The scouts returned and told the king about it.Then the people of Samaria rushed out and plundered the Aramean camp. So it was true that six quarts of choice flour were sold that day for one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain were sold for one piece of silver, just as the Lord had promised.The king appointed his officer to control the traffic at the gate, but he was knocked down and trampled to death as the people rushed out. So everything happened exactly as the man of God had predicted when the king came to his house.The man of God had said to the king,“ By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, six quarts of choice flour will cost one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain will cost one piece of silver.”The king’s officer had replied,“ That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!” And the man of God had said,“ You will see it happen with your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!”And so it was, for the people trampled him to death at the gate!

When Joab’s forces arrived, they attacked Abel beth maacah. They built a siege ramp against the town’s fortifications and began battering down the wall.But a wise woman in the town called out to Joab,“ Listen to me, Joab. Come over here so I can talk to you.”As he approached, the woman asked,“ Are you Joab?”“ I am,” he replied. So she said,“ Listen carefully to your servant.”“ I’m listening,” he said.Then she continued,“ There used to be a saying,‘ If you want to settle an argument, ask advice at the town of Abel.’I am one who is peace loving and faithful in Israel. But you are destroying an important town in Israel. Why do you want to devour what belongs to the Lord?”And Joab replied,“ Believe me, I don’t want to devour or destroy your town!That’s not my purpose. All I want is a man named Sheba son of Bicri from the hill country of Ephraim, who has revolted against King David. If you hand over this one man to me, I will leave the town in peace.”“ All right,” the woman replied,“ we will throw his head over the wall to you.”Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn and called his troops back from the attack. They all returned to their homes, and Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem.