2 Kings 6:25 (DBY)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

2 Kings 6:23 And he prepared a great repast for them, and they ate and drank; and he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

2 Kings 6:24 And it came to pass after this that Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.

2 Kings 6:25 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.

2 Kings 6:26 And it came to pass as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman to him saying, Help, my lord O king!

2 Kings 6:27 And he said, If Jehovah do not help thee, whence should I help thee? Out of the threshing-floor, or out of the winepress?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "great", "famine", "samaria", "behold", "besieged", "until", "ass's", and "head". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "great" and "famine", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 24's "And it came to pass after this..." into verse 26's "And it came to pass as the...", so "great" and "famine" belong inside that flow. In 2 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "great" and "famine" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.