New International Version
2 Kings 6:28
28Then he asked her, “What’s the matter?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’
2 Kings 6:28 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)And the king asked her, "What is your trouble?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.'
- New King James Version (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.’
- New Living Translation (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.’
Context of 2 Kings 6:28
26As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, my lord the king!” 27The king replied, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?” Then he asked her, “What’s the matter?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ 29So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’ but she had hidden him.” 30When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and they saw that, under his robes, he had sackcloth on his body.
Read all of 2 Kings 62 Kings 6:28 word by word
וַיֹּֽאמֶר־לָ֥הּ הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ מַה־לָּ֑ךְ וַתֹּ֗אמֶר הָאִשָּׁ֨ה הַזֹּ֜את אָמְרָ֣ה אֵלַ֗י תְּנִ֤י אֶת־בְּנֵךְ֙ וְנֹאכְלֶ֣נּוּ הַיּ֔וֹם וְאֶת־בְּנִ֖י נֹאכַ֥ל מָחָֽר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 2 Kings 6:28
- Genesis 21:17God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
- Judges 18:23As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?”
- 1 Samuel 1:8Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”
- 2 Samuel 14:5The king asked her, “What is troubling you?” She said, “I am a widow; my husband is dead.
- Psalms 114:5Why was it, sea, that you fled? Why, Jordan, did you turn back?
- Isaiah 22:1A prophecy against the Valley of Vision: What troubles you now, that you have all gone up on the roofs,
- Leviticus 26:29You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.
- Deuteronomy 28:53Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.
- Isaiah 9:20On the right they will devour, but still be hungry; on the left they will eat, but not be satisfied. Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring:
- Isaiah 49:15“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
- Lamentations 4:10With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed.
- Ezekiel 5:10Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds.
- Matthew 24:18Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.
- Luke 23:29For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
Commentaries on 2 Kings 6:28
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 28The king had assumed that the cry of the woman was for food. Her manner indicated that it was not so. He therefore proceeded to inquire what she wanted of him. This woman - Both women, it would seem, were present; and the aggrieved one pointed to the other.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 24-33Verses 24-33 Learn to value plenty, and to be thankful for it; see how contemptible money is, when in time of famine it is so freely parted with for any thing that is eatable! The language of Jehoram to the woman may be the language of despair. See the word of God fulfilled; among the threatenings of God's judgments upon Israel for their sins, this was one, that they should eat the flesh of their own children, De 28:53-57. The truth and the awful justice…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 26-29Cannibalism (the act of eating human flesh) in extreme times was part of God’s warning of judgment for unfaithfulness and disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:53, 57). It also happened during the siege that led to Jerusalem's fall (Lamentations 4:9–10).Read the comment
Topics related to 2 Kings 6:28
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 2 Kings 6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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