2 Kings 6:27

27 And he said: If the Lord doth not save thee, how can I save thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said to her: What aileth thee? And she answered:

2 Kings 6:27 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 6:27

And he said, if the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help
thee?
&c.] Mistaking her meaning, as if she prayed him to relieve her hunger; the margin of our Bible is, "let not the Lord save thee"; and so some understand it as a wish that she might perish; and so Josephus {o}, that being wroth, he cursed her in the name of God:

out of the barn floor, or out of the winepress?
when neither of them afforded anything; no corn was to be had from the one, nor wine from the other, no, not for his own use, and therefore how could he help her out of either?

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 4.)

2 Kings 6:27 In-Context

25 And there was a great famine in Samaria: and so long did the siege continue, till the head of an ass was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cabe of pigeons’ dung, for five pieces of silver.

26 And as the king of Israel was passing by the wall, a certain woman cried out to him, saying: Save me, my lord, O king.

27 And he said: If the Lord doth not save thee, how can I save thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said to her: What aileth thee? And she answered:

28 This woman said to me: Give thy 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 thy son, that we may eat him. And she hath hid her son.