Passage
As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Save, my lord, O king!”
2 Kings 6:26 (LSB)
Nearby Context
2 Kings 6:24 Now it happened afterwards, that Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his military camp and went up and besieged Samaria.
2 Kings 6:25 Now there was a great famine in Samaria. And behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.
2 Kings 6:26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Save, my lord, O king!”
2 Kings 6:27 He said, “If Yahweh does not save you, from where shall I save you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?”
2 Kings 6:28 And the king said to her, “What is the matter with you?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "king", "israel", "passing", "wall", "woman", "cried", "saying", and "save". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "king" and "israel", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 25's "Now there was a great famine in..." into verse 27's "He said If Yahweh does not save...", so "king" and "israel" 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 "israel" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.