2 Kings 6:24–31

²⁴Some time later, King Ben-hadad ^oof Aram brought all his military units together and marched up to besiege Samaria. ²⁵So there was a great famine ^pin Samaria, and they continued the siege against it until a donkey’s head sold for 80 silver shekels, ^qand a cup ^rof dove’s dung ^ssold for five silver shekels. ^tu

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?” ^v28Then the king asked her, “What’s the matter?” ^w

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,’ ^xbut she has hidden her son.”

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