2 Kings 25:3

25:3 By the ninth day of the fourth month ¹  the famine in the city was so severe the residents ²  had no food.

2 Kings 4:38

Elisha Makes a Meal Edible

4:38 Now Elisha went back to Gilgal, while there was famine in the land. Some of the prophets were visiting him ³  and he told his servant, “Put the big pot on the fire ⁴  and boil some stew for the prophets.” ⁵ 

2 Kings 6:25

6:25 Samaria’s food supply ran out. ⁶  They laid siege to it so long that ⁷  a donkey’s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver ⁸  and a quarter of a kab ⁹  of dove’s droppings ¹⁰  for five shekels of silver. ¹¹ 

2 Kings 7:4

7:4 If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation, ¹²  and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect ¹³  to the Syrian camp! If they spare us, ¹⁴  we’ll live; if they kill us – well, we were going to die anyway.” ¹⁵ 

2 Kings 8:1

Elisha Again Helps the Shunammite Woman

8:1 Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, ¹⁶  for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.”

[25:3]  ¹ tn The MT has simply “of the month,” but the parallel passage in Jer 52:6 has “fourth month,” and this is followed by almost all English translations. The word “fourth,” however, is not actually present in the MT of 2 Kgs 25:3.

[25:3]  ² tn Heb “the people of the land.”

[4:38]  ³ tn Heb “the sons of the prophets were sitting before him.”

[4:38]  ⁴ tn The words “the fire” are added for clarification.

[4:38]  ⁵ tn Heb “sons of the prophets.”

[6:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “and there was a great famine in Samaria.”

[6:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “and look, [they] were besieging it until.”

[6:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “eighty, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.

[6:25]  ⁸ sn A kab was a unit of dry measure, equivalent to approximately one quart.

[6:25]  ⁹ 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.

[6:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “five, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.

[7:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city and we will die there.”

[7:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “fall.”

[7:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “keep us alive.”

[7:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “we will die.” The paraphrastic translation attempts to bring out the logical force of their reasoning.

[8:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “Get up and go, you and your house, and live temporarily where you can live temporarily.”