¹² And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city.

⁴ And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:

²⁵ And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore `pieces' of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five `pieces' of silver.

²⁶ And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.

²⁷ And he said, If Jehovah do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the threshing-floor, or out of the winepress?

²⁸ And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son to-morrow.

²⁹ So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him; and she hath hid her son.