2 Kings 6:25 (WEB)

Passage

There was a great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.

Nearby Context

2 Kings 6:23 He prepared a great feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria stopped raiding the land of Israel.

2 Kings 6:24 After this, Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.

2 Kings 6:25 There was a great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.

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

2 Kings 6:27 He said, “If Yahweh doesn’t help you, where could I get help for you? From of 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 "After this Benhadad king of Syria gathered..." 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.