2 Kings 6:25 describes a famine so severe during the siege of Samaria that people paid absurd prices for food that would normally be thrown away. The verse shows the desperate cost of war, with a donkey’s head sold for a fortune and a small measure of dove’s dung treated as a precious commodity. It is narrated by the author of 2 Kings, a historian reporting events in the northern kingdom of Israel, and it is written for an audience who knew that the city of Samaria was their capital.
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 6:25 (WEB)
What 2 Kings 6:25 Means
The verse begins with a plain statement: there was a great famine in Samaria. The word “famine” means food has run out so completely that ordinary life has collapsed. The phrase “they besieged it” tells us that an enemy army, here the forces of Ben-Hadad king of Aram, had surrounded the city and cut off every route for supplies. The siege is the cause; the famine is the result.
The strange prices are the heart of the verse. A donkey’s head was ordinarily worth very little, since it was an animal part no one prized. Now it sells for eighty pieces of silver, a sum that would have bought a great deal of grain in better times. The dove’s dung, probably used as a crude fuel or as a substitute for something else in that hunger, sells for five pieces of silver. The writer lets these prices speak for themselves, so the reader feels the horror without needing an explanation.
What the verse does not do is offer comfort or resolution. It does not say that God sends the famine as a punishment or that the people deserved it. It simply records the desperate situation so that the reader understands how far things had fallen. The verse describes suffering, and its meaning is to show the reader how dire the hunger had become.
The Context of 2 Kings 6:25
Second Kings is a historical book that traces the kings of Judah and Israel, and it judges each ruler by whether he was faithful to the Lord. The chapters around this verse tell of the prophet Elisha, who repeatedly helps Israel and even spares Aramean soldiers when they are captured. Just before our verse, Elisha gives instructions for feeding enemy troops, and the raiding bands stop attacking Israel. Then Ben-Hadad changes course and lays siege to Samaria instead.
Read in this setting, the verse shows that the earlier mercy did not end the conflict. The famine grows out of a renewed war, and the verses that follow show the king of Israel in despair, blaming God and even threatening Elisha. The writer wants the reader to see that the crisis is not caused by one mistake, but it is a deep and prolonged distress that tests the people’s faith in the Lord.
Key Phrases in 2 Kings 6:25
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
(WEB)
This psalm speaks of God as a refuge in trouble, and it fits the situation of a city under threat. Where 2 Kings 6:25 shows the depth of a crisis, Psalm 46:1 reminds the reader where help is found. It connects the suffering of Samaria with the trust that God’s people are invited to place in him.
Lamentations 4:9
Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for lack of the fruits of the field.
(WEB)
Lamentations describes the devastation of Jerusalem during a siege, and this verse speaks of those who died from hunger and the wounds of war. It helps the reader see that the terrible prices in Samaria belonged to a wider pattern of suffering among God’s people, and it gives a sober voice to grief that 2 Kings records in plain facts.
A Short Prayer From 2 Kings 6:25
Lord, you know what hunger does to people and what fear does to a city. When the supplies run low and the way forward seems closed, help me to be honest with you about my need. Give me courage to name the things I cannot provide for myself, and wisdom to see where you are still at work. Keep my heart from despair, and let me trust that you hear the cries of those who are hungry and afraid. Amen.
