2 Kings 6:25

6:25 Samaria’s food supply ran out. ¹  They laid siege to it so long that ²  a donkey’s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver ³  and a quarter of a kab ⁴  of dove’s droppings ⁵  for five shekels of silver. ⁶ 

2 Kings 7:7

7:7 So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

2 Kings 7:10

7:10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers ⁷  of the city. They told them, “We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn’t even hear a man’s voice. ⁸  But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.” ⁹ 

[6:25]  ¹ tn Heb “and there was a great famine in Samaria.”

[6:25]  ² tn Heb “and look, [they] were besieging it until.”

[6:25]  ³ tn Heb “eighty, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.

[6:25]  ⁴ sn A kab was a unit of dry measure, equivalent to approximately one quart.

[6:25]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “five, silver.” The unit of measurement is omitted.

[7:10]  ⁷ tn The MT has a singular form (“gatekeeper”), but the context suggests a plural. The pronoun that follows (“them”) is plural and a plural noun appears in v. 11. The Syriac Peshitta and the Targum have the plural here.

[7:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “and, look, there was no man or voice of a man there.”

[7:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “but the horses are tied up and the donkeys are tied up and the tents are as they were.”