מלכים ב ו׳:כ״ד-ל״ג

דביונים. זבל הזב מן היונים:

Pigeon dung. Dung that flows from the doves.¹⁰When they no longer had wood to cook with, they used dung for fuel.

הושיעה אדני המלך. כסבור ששואלת מזונות:

“Save me, my master, the king!” He thought that she was asking for food.

ותחבא את בנה. מת, ורוצה לאוכלו לבדה (ילקוט שמעוני רמז רלא):

But she has hidden her son. [Who was] dead, and she wants to eat him by herself.¹¹Alternatively, the other woman’s child was alive and she was hiding him to save his life.—Radak

וירא העם. דרך הקרע, את השק תחת בגדיו:

The people saw. Through the tear [they saw] the sackcloth under his garments.

אם יעמוד ראש אלישע. שהיכולת בידו לבקש רחמים:

If the head of Elisha son of Shophot stands. For he is able to beg for mercy.¹²He could have ended the hunger through prayer as Eliyahu had done. See I Melochim 18:41-45. But he failed to do so.

וישלח איש מלפניו. המלך שלח להרגו, ובטרם יבא אותו המלאך אל אלישע, והוא נגלה לו ברוח הקודש, ואמר אל הזקנים: והנה המלאך יורד אליו והמלך אחריו:

And he sent a man from his presence. The king sent [a man] to kill him, and before the messenger had come to Elisha, it was revealed to him through the Divine Spirit, and he said to the elders, etc., [after which Scripture states,] “and behold the messenger was coming down to him,” and the king was after him.

ויאמר. המלך:

He said. The king.

הנה זאת הרעה מאת ה'. זאת אחת מן הקללות שקלל על ידי משה (דברים כח נג): ואכלת פרי בטנך במצור ובמצוק וגו':

“Behold, this tragedy is from Adonoy.” This is one of the curses that He cursed through Moshe, “And you will eat the flesh of your womb, etc., in the siege and in the distress, etc.”¹³Devarim 28:53.

מה אוחיל לה' עוד. להושיע, הלא לא יועיל

What more can I hope for from Adonoy? To save, it will surely not avail.¹⁴Alternatively, מָה אוֹחִיל means “what more can I pray [=אוֹחִיל] before God?”—Targum