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.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
great	גָּדוֹל֙ ga.dOl	H1419	great (in any sense) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
famine	רָעָ֤ב ra.'Av	H7458	hunger (more or less extensive) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Samaria	בְּשֹׁ֣מְר֔וֹן be.Sho.me.Ron	H8111	Shomeron · preposition + proper noun, a place name
besieged	צָרִ֣ים tza.Rim	H6696	to cramp · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
ass’s	חֲמוֹר֙ cha.mOr	H2543	a male ass (from its dun red) · noun, common both genders singular absolute
head	רֹאשׁ rosh-	H7218	the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct
fourscore	בִּשְׁמֹנִ֣ים bish.mo.Nim	H8084	eighty · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
silver	כֶּ֔סֶף Ke.sef	H3701	silver (from its pale color) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
part	וְרֹ֛בַע ve.Roa'	H7255	a quarter · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
cab	הַקַּ֥ב ha.Kav	H6894	a hollow · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
dove’s dung	דִּבְיוֹנִ֖ים cha.rei.yo.nim	H1686	probably some cheap vegetable · noun, common masculine plural absolute
five	בַּחֲמִשָּׁה ba.cha.mi.shah-	H2568	five · preposition + noun, common both genders singular absolute
silver	כָֽסֶף Kha.sef	H3701	silver (from its pale color) · noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

2 Kings 6:28-29 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we wi…
Jeremiah 14:13-15 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you…
Jeremiah 14:18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine…
Jeremiah 52:6 And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the la…
Jeremiah 32:24 Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, beca…
1 Kings 18:2 And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.
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. Now t…
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.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 6:24–end

This last paragraph of this chapter should, of right, have been the first of the next chapter, for it begins a new story, which is there continued and concluded. Here is, I. The siege which the king of Syria laid to Samaria and the great distress which the city was reduced to thereby. The Syrians had soon forgotten the kindnesses they had lately received in Samaria, and very ungratefully, for aught that appears without any provocation, sought the destruction of it, Kg2 6:24. There are base spirits that can never feel obliged. The country, we may suppose, was plundered and laid waste when this capital city was brought to the last extremity, Kg2 6:25. The dearth which had of late been in the l…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 6:25

an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver--Though the ass was deemed unclean food, necessity might warrant their violation of a positive law when mothers, in their extremity, were found violating the law of nature. The head was the worst part of the animal. Eighty pieces of silver, equal to Â£5 5s. the fourth part of a cab--A cab was the smallest dry measure. The proportion here stated was nearly half a pint for 12s. 6d. dove's dung--is thought by BOCHART to be a kind of pulse or pea, common in Judea, and still kept in the storehouses of Cairo and Damascus, and other places, for the use of it by pilgrim-caravans; by LINNÃ†US, and other botanists, it is said to be the root or…

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Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 6:25

And, behold, they besieged it - They had closed it in on every side, and reduced it to the greatest necessity. An ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver - I suppose we are to take the ass's head literally; and if the head sold for so much, what must other parts sell for which were much to be preferred? The famine must be great that could oblige them to eat any part of an animal that was proscribed by the law; and it must be still greater that could oblige them to purchase so mean a part of this unclean animal at so high a price. The piece of silver was probably the drachm, worth about seven pence three farthings of our money; the whole amounting to about two pounds nine shillings…

The Church Fathers

"Famine in Samaria became so great that a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver." The donkey's head, which the Scripture reports here to be so expensive, signifies the teaching coming from the ravings of the philosophers and the scientists of the world. And it was an abominable and rotting food but was very precious when the famine reigned over the earth, and there was no one to break and give the bread to those children who asked for it, that is, until the advent of Christ."And one-fourth of a kab of dove's dung [was sold] for five shekels of silver." Even though the symbol is contrary—in fact, it does not fit in with the Word—but because the righteous are likened to a dove, we say that the kab of dove's dung represents the teaching of the law of Moses, if we compare it with the gospel of Christ. So it can be said that it was mud, a mud precious to the Jews at that time, with which they covered their eyes, which were to be opened soon by the spiritual bath and the gospel of Christ.
— Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 6:25

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Ass — Frequently mentioned throughout Scripture. Of the domesticated species we read of, (1.) The she ass (Heb. ‘athon), so named from its slowness (Gen. 12:16; 45:23; Num. 22:23; 1 Sam. 9:3). (2.) The…
Cab — Hollow (R.V., “kab”), occurs only in 2 Kings 6:25; a dry measure, the sixth part of a seah, and the eighteenth part of an ephah, equal to about two English quarts.
Dove’s dung — (2 Kings 6:25) has been generally understood literally. There are instances in history of the dung of pigeons being actually used as food during a famine. Compare also the language of Rabshakeh to…
Doves Dung — Various explanations have been given of the passage in (2 Kings 6:25) Bochart has labored to show that it denotes a species of cicer, “chick-pea,” which he says the Arabs call usnan, and sometimes…
Elisha — God his salvation, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, who became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:16-19). His name first occurs in the command given to Elijah to anoint him as his…
Famine — The first mentioned in Scripture was so grievous as to compel Abraham to go down to the land of Egypt (Gen. 26:1). Another is mentioned as having occurred in the days of Isaac, causing him to go to…
Jehoram — Jehovah-exalted. (1.) Son of Toi, king of Hamath, sent by his father to congratulate David on the occasion of his victory over Hadadezer (2 Sam. 8:10). (2.) A Levite of the family of Gershom (1 Chr.…
Piece Of Silver — I. In the Old Testament the word “pieces” is used in the Authorized Version for a word understood in the Hebrew (if we except) (Psalms 68:30) The phrase is always “a thousand,” or the like, “of…
Weights And Measures — A. WEIGHTS.—The general principle of the present inquiry is to give the evidence of the monuments the preference on all doubtful points. All ancient Greek systems of weight were derived, either…
Ass (Donkey) · .For food — .For food

2 Kings 6:25

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 6:24–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 6:25

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 6:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

2 Kings 6:25

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 6:24–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 6:25

Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 6:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on 2 Kings 6:25

Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 6:24–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Kings 6:24-25

Rashi on 2 Kings 6:25