24 And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad, king of Syria, gathered all his host and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria as they besieged it until an ass’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. 26 And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried unto him, saying, Save me, my lord, O king. 27 And he said, If the LORD does not save thee, from where shall I save thee? Out of the threshingfloor, or out of the winepress? 28 And the king said unto her, What ails thee? And she answered, This woman said unto 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 unto her on the next day, Give thy son that we may eat him. But she has hid her son. 30 And when the king heard the words of the woman, he rent his clothes; and he passed by like this upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. 31 Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, shall remain upon him today.
32 And Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man unto him. But before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door; is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him? 33 And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him; and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; for what should I wait for the LORD any longer?