2 Kings 6:24–31

THE SIEGE OF SAMARIA

²⁴Some time later, King Ben-hadadⁱ of Aram brought all his military units together and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. ²⁵So there was a severe famine^j in Samaria, and they continued the siege against it until a donkey’s head sold for thirty-four ounces^A of silver, and a cup^B of dove’s dung^C sold for two ounces^D of silver.^k

²⁶As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “My lord the king, help!”

²⁷He answered, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?”^{l 28}Then the king asked her, “What’s the matter?”^m

She said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, and we will eat him today. Then we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ²⁹So we boiled my son and ate him, and I said to her the next day, ‘Give up your son, and we will eat him,’ⁿ but she has hidden her son.”

³⁰When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes.^o Then, as he was passing by on the wall, the people saw that there was sackcloth^p under his clothes next to his skin. ³¹He announced, “May God punish me and do so severely^q if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”