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.
Parallel translations
- WEB The king said to her, “What is your problem?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
- BSB Then the king asked her, “What is the matter?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him, and tomorrow we will eat my son.’
- NKJV Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
- NASB Then the king said to her, “What is on your mind?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son so that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
- NLT But then the king asked, “What is the matter?” She replied, “This woman said to me: ‘Come on, let’s eat your son today, then we will eat my son tomorrow.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The woman reveals a grisly bargain to eat her son and then another's. The famine has driven the people to unspeakable horror.
Overview
Her account uncovers an agreement between two mothers to consume their children in turn. The atrocity fulfills the most dreadful covenant curses warned in the law for severe disobedience. It lays bare how far the siege and the nation's sin have brought them. The scene confronts the reader with the wages of forsaking God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 2 Sam 14:5And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.
- Lam 4:10The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Luke 23:29For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
- Lev 26:29And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
- Judg 18:23And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?
- Ps 114:5What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
- Gen 21:17And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
- Ezek 5:10Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.
- Isa 22:1The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?
- 1 Sam 1:8Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?
- Matt 24:18–21Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
- Deut 28:53–57And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:
- Isa 9:20–21And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:
- Isa 49:15Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 6:28 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.