2 Kings 6:24-33

GOD’S WORD Translation

The Aramean Army Blockades Samaria

²⁴ Later King Benhadad of Aram assembled his whole army. They went to Samaria and blockaded it. ²⁵ The shortages caused by the blockade of Samaria became so severe that a donkey’s head sold for two pounds of silver and a half-pint of dove ^[a] manure for two ounces of silver.

²⁶ As the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, Your Majesty!”

²⁷ He answered, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, how can I help you? I can’t give you something from the threshing floor ^[b] or the winepress.” ²⁸ Then the king asked her, “What’s the matter?”

She answered, “This woman told me, ‘Give up your son. Let’s eat him today. We’ll eat my son tomorrow.’ ²⁹ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I told her, ‘Give up your son. We’ll eat him,’ but she hid her son.”

³⁰ When the king heard the woman say this, he tore his clothes ⌞in distress⌟. As he was walking on the city wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes. ³¹ He said, “May God strike me dead if the head of Elisha, son of Shaphat, stays on his ⌞body⌟ today.”

³² Elisha was sitting in his home with the ⌞city’s⌟ leaders. The king had sent one of his men ahead of him ⌞to Elisha’s house⌟. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha asked the leaders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to tear off my head? When the messenger comes, close the door. Hold it shut because the king will be following him.”

³³ While he was still talking to them, the messenger arrived. He said to Elisha, “This severe famine is from the Lord. Why should I wait any longer for the Lord ⌞to help us⌟?”