25
There was a shortage of food in Samaria. It was so bad that a donkey's head sold for about two pounds of silver, and half of a pint of dove's dung sold for about two ounces of silver.
26
As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman yelled out to him, "Help me, my master and king!"
27
The king said, "If the Lord doesn't help you, how can I? Can I get help from the threshing floor or from the winepress?"
28
Then the king said to her, "What is your trouble?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give up your son so we can eat him today. Then we will eat my son tomorrow.'
29
So we boiled my son and ate him. Then the next day I said to her, 'Give up your son so we can eat him.' But she had hidden him."
30
When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his clothes in grief. As he walked along the wall, the people looked and saw he had on rough cloth under his clothes to show his sadness.
31
He said, "May God punish me terribly if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat isn't cut off from his body today!"
32
The king sent a messenger to Elisha, who was sitting in his house with the older leaders. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to them, "See, this murderer is sending men to cut off my head. When the messenger arrives, shut the door and hold it; don't let him in. The sound of his master's feet is behind him."
33
Elisha was still talking with the leaders when the messenger arrived. The king said, "This trouble has come from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?"