2 Kings 6:25 (LSB)

Passage

Now there was a great famine in Samaria. And behold, 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.

Nearby Context

2 Kings 6:23 So he prepared a great feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the marauding bands of Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel.

2 Kings 6:24 Now it happened afterwards, that Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his military camp and went up and besieged Samaria.

2 Kings 6:25 Now there was a great famine in Samaria. And behold, 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.

2 Kings 6:26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Save, my lord, O king!”

2 Kings 6:27 He said, “If Yahweh does not save you, from where shall I save you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "great", "famine", "samaria", "behold", "besieged", "until", "donkey", 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 "Now it happened afterwards that Ben-hadad king..." into verse 26's "As the king of Israel was passing...", 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.