Passage
As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”
2 Kings 6:26 (WEB)
Nearby Context
2 Kings 6:24 After this, Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.
2 Kings 6:25 There was a great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.
2 Kings 6:26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”
2 Kings 6:27 He said, “If Yahweh doesn’t help you, where could I get help for you? From of the threshing floor, or from the wine press?”
2 Kings 6:28 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.’
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "king", "israel", "passing", "wall", "woman", "cried", "saying", and "help". 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 "There was a great famine in Samaria..." into verse 27's "He said If Yahweh doesn t help...", 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.