2 Kings 6:25

6:25 Samaria’s food supply ran out. They laid siege to it so long that a donkey’s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver and a quarter of a kab of dove’s droppings for five shekels of silver.


tn Heb “and there was a great famine in Samaria.”

tn Heb “and look, [they] were besieging it until.”

tn Heb “eighty, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.

sn A kab was a unit of dry measure, equivalent to approximately one quart.

tn The consonantal text (Kethib) reads, “dove dung” (חֲרֵייוֹנִים, khareyonim), while the marginal reading (Qere) has “discharge” (דִּבְיוֹנִים, divyonim). Based on evidence from Akkadian, M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 79) suggest that “dove’s dung” was a popular name for the inedible husks of seeds.

tn Heb “five, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.