2 Kings 6:24-29

New American Standard Bible

The Siege of Samaria—Cannibalism

²⁴ Now it came about after this, that ^(A)Ben-hadad the king of Aram gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. ²⁵ So there was a severe ^(B)famine in Samaria; and behold, they kept besieging it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a ^[a]kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. ²⁶ And as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord the king!” ²⁷ But he said, “^[b]If the Lord does not help you, from where am I to help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” ²⁸ Then the king said to her, “^(C)What ^[c]is on your mind?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son so that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ^29 (D)So we cooked my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, so that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”