Famine

How Nave’s arranged it

• Pharaoh forewarned of, in dreamsGenesis 41
• DescribedDeuteronomy 28:53–57Isaiah 5:13Isaiah 9:18–21Isaiah 17:11Jeremiah 5:17Jeremiah 14:1–6Jeremiah 48:33Lamentations 1:11Lamentations 1:19Lamentations 2:11–22Lamentations 4:4–10Joel 1:17–20
• Sent as a judgmentLeviticus 26:19–29Deuteronomy 28:23Deuteronomy 28:24Deuteronomy 28:38–421 Kings 17:12 Kings 8:11 Chronicles 21:12Psalms 105:16Psalms 107:33Psalms 107:34Isaiah 3:1–8Isaiah 14:30Jeremiah 19:9Jeremiah 14:15–22Jeremiah 29:17Jeremiah 29:19Lamentations 5:4Lamentations 5:5Lamentations 5:10Ezekiel 4:16
• Cannibalism inDeuteronomy 28:532 Kings 6:28
• Righteous delivered fromJob 5:20Psalms 33:19Psalms 37:19
• FIGURATIVEAmos 8:11
• INSTANCES OF
• In CanaanGenesis 12:10Genesis 26:12 Samuel 21:11 Kings 171 Kings 18:12 Kings 6:25–292 Kings 7:4
• In Jerusalem, from siege2 Kings 25:3Jeremiah 52:6
• In EgyptGenesis 41:53–57
• UniversalActs 11:28

The passages, in Bible order (62)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 12:10

   Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 12:102 voices

   “And there was a famine in the land - Not only to punish the iniquity of the Canaanites, but to exercise the faith of Abram. Now he was tried whether he could trust the God that brought him to Canaan, to maintain him there, and rejoice in him as the God of his salvation, when the fig-tree did not blossom.

   “There was a famine in the land - Of Canaan. This is the first famine on record, and it prevailed in the most fertile land then under the sun; and why? God made it desolate for the wickedness of those who dwelt in it. Went down into Egypt - He felt himself a stranger and a pilgrim, and by his unsettled state was kept in mind of the city that hath foundations that are permanent and stable, whose builder is the living God. See Heb 11:8, Heb 11:9.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 12:10→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Genesis 26:1

   Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Genesis 41:1

   After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile,

   ›Commentary on Genesis 41:12 voices

   “Pharaoh dreamed--"Pharaoh," from an Egyptian word Phre, signifying the "sun," was the official title of the kings of that country. The prince, who occupied the throne of Egypt, was Aphophis, one of the Memphite kings, whose capital was On or Heliopolis, and who is universally acknowledged to have been a patriot king.

   “It was certainly a singular honor to be instructed concerning an event yet fourteen years future: for truly the will of God was manifested to Pharaoh, just as if he had been taught by the word, except that the interpretation of it was to be sought elsewhere.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 41:1→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Genesis 41:53–57

   When the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end,

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Leviticus 26:19–29

   I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,

   ›Commentary on Leviticus 26:19–291 voice

   “I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass--No figures could have been employed to convey a better idea of severe and long-continued famine.

   Everything gathered on Leviticus 26:19–29→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Deuteronomy 28:23

   The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:232 voices

   “By the heaven then being brass is signified its being shut up, and refusing its use to the earth. The earth also is iron, for it witholds its produce, and with hostile rigour excludes from its fructifying soil the seeds thrown upon it, which its wont is to cherish as in the bosom of a tender mother. For when does iron bring forth fruit, when does brass melt into showers?

   “Thy heaven - shall be brass, and the earth - iron - The atmosphere should not be replenished with aqueous vapours, in consequence of which they should have neither the early nor the latter rain; hence the earth - the ground, must be wholly intractable, and, through its hardness, incapable of cultivation. God shows them by this that he is Lord of nature; and that drought and sterility are not casualties, but proceed from the immediate appointment of the Lord.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 28:23→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Deuteronomy 28:24

   The LORD will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:241 voice

   “The rain of thy land powder and dust - As their heavens - atmosphere, clouds, etc., were to be as brass - yielding no rain; so the surface of the earth must be reduced to powder; and this, being frequently taken up by the strong winds, would fall down in showers instead of rain.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 28:24→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Deuteronomy 28:38–42

   You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Deuteronomy 28:53–57

   Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 28:53–571 voice

   “Such were the dreadful extremities to which the inhabitants during the siege were reduced that many women sustained a wretched existence by eating the flesh of their own children. Parental affection was extinguished, and the nearest relatives were jealously, avoided, lest they should discover and demand a share of the revolting viands.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 28:53–57→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. 2 Samuel 21:1

    During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”

    ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 21:12 voices

    “And indeed that this was done, and Saul's seven sons hanged by David's order before that time, seems to be intimated by that passage, chap. xvi, 8, where he is charged with the blood of the house of Saul: for which there was not the least colour 'till this time.

    “The Gibeonites met the children of Israel, and although other nations were slaughtered, they were kept for hewers of wood and drawers of water. And of such value were they in God's eyes that the family of Saul was destroyed for the wrong done to them. Where would you put them? Among the goats? But they were not slain, and they were avenged by the determination of God. Among the sheep? But holy Scripture says they were not of the same merit as the Israelites.

    Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 21:1→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. 1 Kings 17:1

    Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

    ›Commentary on 1 Kings 17:12 voices

    “Great is the virtue of fasting. Indeed, its military appearance is so beautiful that it delightfully attracts and elevates humans to heaven for fasting and for Christ: so powerful that it raises men up to heaven. And to use more human than divine examples, from the fasting mouth of Elijah a voice was uttered that closed heaven to the sacrilegious people of the Jews. For when Ahab, the king, had set up an altar to the idol, according to the words of the prophet, there was no rain for three years and six months upon the earth.

    “The name Elijah means “Yahweh is my God.” It is expressive of the truth which his whole life preached. The two words rendered “Tishbite” and “inhabitant” are in the original (setting aside the vowel points) “exactly alike.” The meaning consequently must either be “Elijah the stranger, of the strangers of Gilead,” or (more probably) “Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbi of Gilead.” Of Tishbi in Gilead there is no further trace in Scripture; it is to be distinguished from another Tishbi in Galilee.

    Everything gathered on 1 Kings 17:1→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. 1 Kings 18:1

    After a long time, in the third year of the drought, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the face of the earth.”

    ›Commentary on 1 Kings 18:12 voices

    "After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year of the drought, saying, 'Go, present yourself to Ahab; I will send rain on the earth.' " The Lord, by giving life back to the child, granted grace to Elijah. …

    “The third year - i. e., in the third year of his sojourn with the widow. The whole period of drought was three years and a half Luk 4:25; Jas 5:17: of this, probably about one year was passed by Elijah in the torrent-course of Cherith, and two years and a half at Sarepta.

    Everything gathered on 1 Kings 18:1→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. 2 Kings 6:25–29

    So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver.

    ›Commentary on 2 Kings 6:25–291 voice

    “As the donkey was “unclean,” it would not be eaten except in the last resort; and its head would be its worst and cheapest part. Cab - This measure is not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. According to the rabbinical writers it was the smallest of all the dry measures in use among the Jews, being the sixth part of a seah, which was the third part of an ephah. If it was about equal to two of our quarts, the “fourth part of a cab” would be about a pint.

    Everything gathered on 2 Kings 6:25–29→

    Verse page →Original language →

14. 2 Kings 6:28

    Then the king asked her, “What is the matter?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him, and tomorrow we will eat my son.’

    ›Commentary on 2 Kings 6:281 voice

    “The king had assumed that the cry of the woman was for food. Her manner indicated that it was not so. He therefore proceeded to inquire what she wanted of him. This woman - Both women, it would seem, were present; and the aggrieved one pointed to the other.

    Everything gathered on 2 Kings 6:28→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. 2 Kings 7:4

    If we say, ‘Let us go into the city,’ we will die there from the famine in the city; but if we sit here, we will also die. So come now, let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”

    Verse page →Original language →

16. 2 Kings 8:1

    Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, you and your household; go and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the LORD has decreed a seven-year famine, and it has already come to the land.”

    ›Commentary on 2 Kings 8:12 voices

    “The Lord, &c. - Hath appointed to bring a famine. This expression intimates, that all afflictions are sent by God, and come at his call or command. Seven years - A double time to the former famine under Elijah, which is but just, because they were still incorrigible under all the judgments of God, and the powerful ministry of Elisha.

    “The famine here recorded, and the conversation of the monarch with Gehazi, must have been anterior to the events related in 2 Kings 5 since we may be sure that a king of Israel would not have entered into familiar conversation with a confirmed leper. The writer of Kings probably col ected the miracles of Elisha from various sources, and did not always arrange them chronologically. Here the link of connection is to be found in the nature of the miracle. As Elisha on one occasion prophesied plenty, so on another he had prophesied a famine.

    Everything gathered on 2 Kings 8:1→

    Verse page →Original language →