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.
So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Give me your son so we can eat him,' but she has hidden her son.
This verse describes the horrific desperation of a mother during a severe famine who tells the king how she and another woman resorted to cannibalism to survive.
📚 Historical Context
This occurred during a devastating siege of Samaria by the Syrian army, which had caused such extreme famine that people were eating anything they could find, including dove droppings and donkey heads at enormous prices. The woman is appealing to King Jehoram for justice because her partner in this desperate pact had broken their agreement after she had already sacrificed her own child.
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