2 Kings 6:25 BSB — MannaFest

2 Kings 6:25

So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

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.

KJV

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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Commentary

2 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

As the donkey was “unclean,” it would not be eaten except in the last resort; and its head would be its worst and cheapest part. Cab - This measure is not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. According to the rabbinical writers it was the smallest of all the dry measures in use among the Jews, being the sixth part of a seah, which was the third part of an ephah. If it was about equal to two of our quarts, the “fourth part of a cab” would be about a pint.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Famine in Samaria - Probably the siege was so sudden, that they had no time to lay in provisions. Pieces - Supposed to be shekels; and the common shekel being valued at fifteen pence of English money, this amounts to five pounds.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

18 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַיְהִ֨י	vay.Hi	and it was	H1961 →
רָעָ֤ב	ra.'Av	a famine	H7458 →
גָּדוֹל֙	ga.dOl	great	H1419 →
בְּשֹׁ֣מְר֔וֹן	be.Sho.me.Ron	in Samaria	H8111 →
וְהִנֵּ֖ה	ve.hi.Neh	and there!	H2009 →
צָרִ֣ים	tza.Rim	[they were] laying siege	H6696 →
עָלֶ֑יהָ	'a.Lei.ha	on it	H5921 →
עַ֣ד	'ad	until	H5704 →
הֱי֤וֹת	he.Yot	was	H1961 →
רֹאשׁ־	rosh-	[the] head of	H7218 →
חֲמוֹר֙	cha.mOr	a donkey	H2543 →
בִּשְׁמֹנִ֣ים	bish.mo.Nim	for eighty	H8084 →
כֶּ֔סֶף	Ke.sef	silver	H3701 →
וְרֹ֛בַע	ve.Roa'	and [the] fourth part of	H7255 →
הַקַּ֥ב	ha.Kav	the kab	H6894 →
דִּבְיוֹנִ֖ים	cha.rei.yo.nim	quano<s>	H1686 →
בַּחֲמִשָּׁה־	ba.cha.mi.shah-	for five	H2568 →
כָֽסֶף׃	Kha.sef	silver	H3701 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Jeremiah 14:18
If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land…
leads to
- Ezekiel 7:15
  The sword is outside; plague and famine are within. Those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague.
- Lamentations 1:20
  See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.
Through
Jeremiah 32:24
See how the siege ramps are mounted against the city to capture it. And by sword and famine and plague, the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting…
leads to
- Jeremiah 32:36
  Now therefore, about this city of which you say, ‘It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword and famine and plague,’ this is what the LORD, the God…
- Joshua 23:15–16
  But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from…
- Jeremiah 33:4
  For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that have been torn down for defense against the…
- Deuteronomy 4:26
  I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it,…
Through
Jeremiah 52:6
By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.
leads to
- Jeremiah 39:2
  And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city was breached.
- Isaiah 3:1
  For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,