2 Kings 6:30 (DRB)

Passage

When the king heard this, he rent his garments, and passed by upon the wall. And all the people saw the haircloth which he wore within next to his flesh.

Nearby Context

2 Kings 6:28 This woman said to me: Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

2 Kings 6:29 So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day: Give thy son, that we may eat him. And she hath hid her son.

2 Kings 6:30 When the king heard this, he rent his garments, and passed by upon the wall. And all the people saw the haircloth which he wore within next to his flesh.

2 Kings 6:31 And the king said: May God do so and so to me, and may he add more, if the head of Eliseus, the son of Saphat, shall stand on him this day.

2 Kings 6:32 But Eliseus sat in his house, and the ancients sat with him. So he sent a man before: and before that messenger came, he said to the ancients: Do you know that this son of a murderer hath sent to cut off my head? Look then when the messenger shall come, shut the door, and suffer him not to come in: for behold the sound of his master's feet is behind him.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "king", "heard", "rent", "garments", "passed", "upon", "wall", and "people". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "king" and "heard", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 29's "So we boiled my son and ate..." into verse 31's "And the king said May God do...", so "king" and "heard" belong inside that flow. In 2 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "king" and "heard" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.