What Does the Bible Say About Famine?

“And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.”

“And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.”

“And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended.”

“And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.”

“And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do.”

“And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. all the storehouses: Heb. all wherein was”

“And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:”

“And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.”

“And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. contrary: or, at all adventures with me”

“I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.”

“And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;”

“Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.”

“And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.”

“And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.”

“And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;”

“Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.”

“And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.”

“And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.”

“The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.”

“Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.”

“Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.”

“Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.”

“Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. thou shalt not: Heb. they shall not be thine”

“All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. consume: or, possess”

“And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: body: Heb. belly”

“So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:”

“So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.”

“The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,”

“And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates. young one: Heb. afterbirth”

“In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. power: Heb. hands”

“To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.”

“They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.”

“Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.”

“He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;”

“A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. barrenness: Heb. saltiness”

“For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,”

“The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,”

“The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. the honourable: Heb. a man eminent in countenance eloquent: or, skilful of speech”

“And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.”

“And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.”

“When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:”

“In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people. swear: Heb. lift up the hand healer: Heb. binder up”

“For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.”

“Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. honourable: Heb. glory are men of famine”

“For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.”

“Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother. fuel: Heb. meat”

“And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: snatch: Heb cut”

“Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”

“And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.”

“In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. a heap: or, removed in the day of inheritance, and there shall be deadly sorrow”

“And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.”

“The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. the dearth: Heb. the words of the dearths, or, restraints”

“Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.”

“And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits , and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.”

“Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.”

“Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.”

“And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.”

“Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.”

“And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.”

“Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.”

“If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not. go about: or, make merchandise against a land, and men acknowledge it not”

“Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!”

“We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.”

“Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.”

“Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.”

“And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.”

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.”

“Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.”

“And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.”

“And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.”

“All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile. to: or, to make the soul to come again”

“I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.”

“Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. swoon: or, faint”

“They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.”

“What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?”

“Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity ; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.”

“All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? by: Heb. by the way”

“All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.”

“The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.”

“Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.”

“Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.”

“Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? of a span: or, swaddled with their hands?”

“The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.”

“Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.”

“The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.”

“They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.”

“For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her. punishment of the iniquity: or, iniquity”

“Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:”

“Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick. blacker: Heb. darker than blackness”

“They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field. pine: Heb. flow out”

“The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

“We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. is: Heb. cometh for price”

“Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. Our: Heb. On our necks are we persecuted”

“Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. terrible: or, terrors, or, storms”

“Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:”

“That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.”

“When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:”

“So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.”

“Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:”

“Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.”