21. When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Master, should I kill them? Should I kill them?”
22. Elisha answered, “Don’t kill them. Do you kill everyone you take captive in combat? Give them food and water. Let them eat and drink. Then let them go back to their master.”
23. So the king prepared a great feast for them. They ate and drank, and then he sent them back to their master. After this, Aramean troops didn’t raid Israel’s territory anymore.
24. Later King Benhadad of Aram assembled his whole army. They went to Samaria and blockaded it.
25. The shortages caused by the blockade of Samaria became so severe that a donkey’s head sold for two pounds of silver and a half-pint of dove manure for two ounces of silver.
26. As the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, Your Majesty!”
27. He answered, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, how can I help you? I can’t give you something from the threshing floor or the winepress.”
28. Then the king asked her, “What’s the matter?”She answered, “This woman told me, ‘Give up your son. Let’s eat him today. We’ll eat my son tomorrow.’
29. So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I told her, ‘Give up your son. We’ll eat him,’ but she hid her son.”
30. When the king heard the woman say this, he tore his clothes ⌊in distress⌋. As he was walking on the city wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes.