2 Kings 6:30

30 When the king heard the woman's story he ripped apart his robe. Since he was walking on the city wall, everyone saw that next to his skin he was wearing coarse burlap.

2 Kings 6:30 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 6:30

And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the
woman, that he rent his clothes
At the horror of the fact reported, and through grief that his people were brought into such distress through famine:

and he passed by upon the wall;
returning to his palace:

and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth upon his flesh;
which, in token of humiliation for averting the calamities he was under, he had put there before, and now was seen through the rending of his clothes.

2 Kings 6:30 In-Context

28 The king continued, "Tell me your story."

29 So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I told her, 'Your turn - bring your son so we can have him for supper.' But she had hidden her son away."

30 When the king heard the woman's story he ripped apart his robe. Since he was walking on the city wall, everyone saw that next to his skin he was wearing coarse burlap.

31 And he called out, "God do his worst to me - and more - if Elisha son of Shaphat still has a head on his shoulders at this day's end."

32 Elisha was sitting at home, the elders sitting with him. The king had already dispatched an executioner, but before the man arrived Elisha spoke to the elders: "Do you know that this murderer has just now sent a man to take off my head? Look, when the executioner arrives, shut the door and lock it. Don't I even now hear the footsteps of his master behind him?"