2 Kings 6:24 Explained in Context

Verse 24. ²⁴ And it came to pass after this, that Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.

Verse 25. ²⁵ And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.

Verse 26. ²⁶ And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.

Verse 27. ²⁷ And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?

Verse 28. ²⁸ And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.

Verse 29. ²⁹ So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.

Verse 30. ³⁰ And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.

Verse 31. ³¹ Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.

Verse 32. ³² But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?

Verse 33. ³³ And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?