2 Kings 6:24–31
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The Lord Saves Samaria
6:24Later King Ben Hadad of Syria assembled his entire army and attacked34 and besieged Samaria.356:25Samaria’s food supply ran out.36 They laid siege to it so long that37 a donkey’s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver38 and a quarter of a kab39 of dove’s droppings40 for five shekels of silver.41
6:26While the king of Israel was passing by on the city wall, a woman shouted to him, “Help us, my master, O king!” 6:27He replied, “No, let the Lord help you. How can I help you? The threshing floor and winepress are empty.”426:28Then the king asked her, “What’s your problem?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Hand over your son; we’ll eat him today and then eat my son tomorrow.’ 6:29So we boiled my son and ate him. Then I said to her the next day, ‘Hand over your son and we’ll eat him.’ But she hid her son!” 6:30When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. As he was passing by on the wall, the people could see he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes.436:31Then he said, “May God judge me severely44 if Elisha son of Shaphat still has his head by the end of the day!”45
Footnotes
- 34 Heb “went up.”
- 35 For location see ; ; ; ; .
- 36 Heb “and there was a great famine in Samaria.”
- 37 Heb “and look, [they] were besieging it until.”
- 38 Heb “eighty, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.
- 39 A kab was a unit of dry measure, equivalent to approximately one quart.
- 40 The consonantal text (Kethib) reads, “dove dung” (חֲרֵייוֹנִים, khareyonim), while the marginal reading (Qere) has “discharge” (דִּבְיוֹנִים, divyonim). Based on evidence from Akkadian, M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [], ) suggest that “dove’s dung” was a popular name for the inedible husks of seeds.
- 41 Heb “five, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.
- 42 Heb “From where can I help you, from the threshing floor or the winepress?” The rhetorical question expresses the king’s frustration. He has no grain or wine to give to the masses.
- 43 Heb “the people saw, and look, [there was] sackcloth against his skin underneath.”
- 44 Heb “So may God do to me, and so may he add.”
- 45 Heb “if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat stays on him today.”
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