²³ So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands^(A) from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.

Famine in Besieged Samaria

²⁴ Some time later, Ben-Hadad^(B) king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege^(C) to Samaria. ²⁵ There was a great famine^(D) in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels^[a] of silver, and a quarter of a cab^[b] of seed pods^[c](E) for five shekels.^[d]