◄ 2 Kings 6:25 ►
And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
Treasury of Scripture

a great famine

2 Kings 6:28,29 And the king said to her, What ails you? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may eat him to day...

2 Kings 7:4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also...

2 Kings 25:3 And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

1 Kings 18:2 And Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.

Jeremiah 14:13-15,18 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say to them, You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine...

Jeremiah 32:24 Behold the mounts, they are come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it...

Jeremiah 52:6 And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city...

an ass's head If the {pieces} of silver were {dracms}, the whole would amount

2l.

9s.; which was a great price for so {mean} a part of this {unclean} animal.

Ezekiel 4:13-16 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them...

dove's dung This probably denotes, as Bochart, Scheuchzer, and others suppose, a kind of {pulse}, or {vetches}, which the Arabs still call {pigeon's dung}. `They never,' says Dr. Sahw, `constitute a dish by themselves, but are strewed singly as a garnish over {cuscasowe, pillowe}, and other dishes. They are besides in the greatest repute after they are parched in pans and ovens; then assuming the name {leb-lebby;} ' and he thinks they were so called from being pointed at one end, and acquiring an ash colour in parching.



Context
The Siege and Famine of Samaria

24And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. 25And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. 26And as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, there cried a woman to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. 27And he said, If the LORD do not help you, from where shall I help you? out of the barn floor, or out of the wine press? 28And the king said to her, What ails you? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. 29So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said to her on the next day, Give your son, that we may eat him: and she has hid her son. 30And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by on the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within on his flesh. 31Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day. 32But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See you how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? 33And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down to him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?
Parallel Verses
American Standard Version
And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And there was a great famine in Samaria: and so long did the siege continue, till the head of an ass was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cabe of pigeon's dung, for five pieces of silver.

Darby Bible Translation
And there was a great famine in Samaria; and behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was worth eighty silver-pieces, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung five silver-pieces.

King James Bible
And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.

Young's Literal Translation
and there is a great famine in Samaria, and lo, they are laying siege to it, till the head of an ass is at eighty silverlings, and a forth of the cab of dovesdung at five silverlings.

2 Kings 6:24
Top of Page
Top of Page


Bible Apps.com