II Kings 06 Samaria and the Siege

 II Kings 06

Samaria and the Siege

24 And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army together, and went up and besieged Samaria.

25 And there was a severe famine in Samaria: for, behold, they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a fourth of a haunch of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.

26 And it came to pass, as the king passed by the wall, that a woman called to him, saying, Help me, my lord, O king.

27 And he said unto her, If the LORD help thee, whence shall I help thee, from the threshing-floor, or from the winepress?

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

29 So we boiled my son, and did eat him: But the next day I said to her, “Give your son, that we may eat,” and she hid her son.

30 When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes and passed by on the wall. The people saw that he had sackcloth on his body inside.

31 And he said, “May God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.”

32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from before him. But before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Have you seen how the son of the murderer has sent to take my head off? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door on him and push him out with the door. Is there not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” 

33 And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him, and said, Behold, this evil cometh from the Lord: what more shall I expect of the Lord?