2 Kings 6:28

28 The king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

2 Kings 6:28 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 6:28

And the king said unto her, what aileth thee?
&c.] His passion subsiding, or pitying her as in distress, and supposing that there might be something particular and pressing in her case:

and she answered,

this woman said unto me;
who was now with her, and to whom she pointed:

give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son
tomorrow;
and this was agreed to between them, that first one should be eaten, and then the other, and that they should feed upon one as long as it would last, and then on the other; for it is not to be limited precisely to a day and tomorrow.

2 Kings 6:28 In-Context

26 As the king of Yisra'el was passing by on the wall, there cried a woman to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.

27 He said, If the LORD doesn't help you, whence shall I help you? out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress?

28 The king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

29 So we boiled my son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, Give your son, that we may eat him; and she has hid her son.

30 It happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes (now he was passing by on the wall); and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within on his flesh.