²⁵ As the siege continued, famine in Samaria became so great that a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver and one-fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.

⁶ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.^(A)

Denunciation of Lying Prophets

¹³ Then I said: “Ah, Lord God! Here are the prophets saying to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place.’ ”^{(A) 14} And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.^{(B) 15} Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name though I did not send them and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come on this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.^(C)

²⁸ But then the king asked her, “What is your complaint?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son; we will eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ²⁹ So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son, and we will eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”^(A)

²⁴ See, the siege ramps have been cast up against the city to take it, and the city, faced with sword, famine, and pestilence, has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has happened, as you yourself can see.^(A)

¹³ The Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread, unclean, among the nations to which I will drive them.”^{(A) 14} Then I said, “Ah Lord God! I have never defiled myself; from my youth up until now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by animals, nor has carrion flesh come into my mouth.”^{(B) 15} Then he said to me, “See, I will let you have cow’s dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.”

¹⁶ Then he said to me, “Mortal, I am going to cut off the supply of bread^[a] in Jerusalem; they shall eat bread by weight and with fearfulness, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay.^(C)

³ On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine became so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.^(A)

⁴ If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there, but if we sit here, we shall also die. Therefore, let us desert to the Aramean camp; if they spare our lives, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall but die.”^(A)

² So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria.