By the ninth day of the fourth month<n id="1" /> the famine in the city was so severe the residents<n id="2" /> had no food.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now Elisha went back to Gilgal, while there was famine in the land. Some of the prophets were visiting him<n id="1" /> and he told his servant, &#8220;Put the big pot on the fire<n id="2" /> and boil some stew for the prophets.&#8221;<n id="3" />

Samaria&#8217;s food supply ran out.<n id="1" /> They laid siege to it so long that<n id="2" /> a donkey&#8217;s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver<n id="3" /> and a quarter of a kab<n id="4" /> of dove&#8217;s droppings<n id="5" /> for five shekels of silver.<n id="6" />p>

If we go into the city, we&#8217;ll die of starvation,<n id="1" /> and if we stay here we&#8217;ll die! So come on, let&#8217;s defect<n id="2" /> to the Syrian camp! If they spare us,<n id="3" /> we&#8217;ll live; if they kill us &#8211; well, we were going to die anyway.&#8221;<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, &#8220;You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while,<n id="1" /> for the <sc>Lordsc> has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.&#8221;