The army of Syria surrounded Samaria

24 But some time later, Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, assembled his entire army, and they went to Samaria and surrounded the city for a long time. 25 Because of that, after a while there was hardly any food left inside the city, with the result that eventually a donkey’s head, which was usually worthless, cost eighty pieces of silver, and ◄one cup/0.3 liter► of dove’s dung cost five pieces of silver.

26 One day when the king of Israel was walking on top of the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Your Majesty, help me!”

27 He replied, “If Yahweh will not help you, I certainly cannot [RHQ] help you. I certainly [RHQ] do not have any wheat or wine! 28 What is your problem?” She replied, “Several days ago, that woman over there said to me, ‘Because we have nothing left to eat, let’s kill your son today, in order that we can eat his flesh. Then tomorrow we can kill my son and eat his flesh.’

29 So we killed my son and cut his body up and boiled his flesh and ate it. The next day, I said to her, ‘Now give your son to me, in order that we can kill him and cook his flesh and eat it.’ But she has hidden her son!”

30 When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his robe to show that he was very distressed. The people who were standing close to the wall were able to see that the king was wearing rough cloth underneath his robe because he was very distressed. 31 The king exclaimed, “I wish/hope that God will strike me dead if I do not cut off the head of Elisha today, because he is the one who has caused these terrible things to happen to us!”

32 So the king sent an officer to get Elisha.

Before the officer arrived, Elisha was sitting in his house with some Israeli elders who were talking with him. Elisha said to them, “That murderer, the king of Israel, is sending someone here to kill me. Listen: When he arrives, shut the door and do not allow him to come in. And the king will be coming right behind that officer!” 33 And while he was still speaking, the king and the officer arrived. The king said, “It is Yahweh who has caused us to have all this trouble/suffering. ◄Why should I wait any longer [RHQ] for him to do something to help us?/It is useless for me to wait any longer for him to help us!►”

7 Elisha replied to the king, “Listen to what Yahweh says: ‘He says that by this time tomorrow, at the marketplace here in Samaria, you will be able to buy ◄ten pounds/five kg.► of fine wheat or ◄20 pounds/ten kg.► of barley for only one piece of silver.’”

2 The king’s officer said to Elijah, “That cannot happen! Even if Yahweh himself would open the windows of the sky and send grain down to us, that certainly could not [RHQ] happen!” Elisha replied, “Because you said that, you [SYN] will see it happen, but you will not be able to eat any of the food!”