2 Kings 6:25 — Now there was a great famine in Samaria; and they besieged it until a donkey’s… — AMP | maBible
Read 2 Kings 6:25 (Amplified Bible) on maBible, the Bible online. Other reference formats: 2 Kings 6.25, 2 Kings 6v25, 2R. 6:25. Now there was a great famine in Samaria; and they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five s…
25 Now there was a great famine in Samaria; and they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.
Notes and references
The purpose of a siege was to starve out or weaken the inhabitants of a fortified city, minimizing risk to the attacking army. The success of the siege depended on whether the city was sufficiently stocked with food and water. Here, with a famine, not only does the city fall well short of adequate…
Apparently the famine was so severe that the inhabitants were purchasing products that were barely edible as well as being ceremonially unclean.
One kab is about two quarts.
Normally dung was used as fertilizer or for fuel; however, in this verse “dove’s dung” may be a nickname for a wild pealike vegetable.