Bible Dictionaries
Fever

Holman Bible Dictionary

An elevated body temperature or a disease accompanied by such symptoms. The “burning ague” (Leviticus 26:16 ) is an acute fever marked by regular periods of fever, sweating, and then chills. Fever accompanying “consumption” or “wasting disease” (Deuteronomy 28:22 REB) could refer to any number of diseases: malaria, typhoid, typhus, dysentery, chronic diahhrea, or cholera. The “extreme burning” of Deuteronomy 28:22 is understood by most modern translations as a reference to the weather (“fiery heat” RSV, NAS; “scorching wind” TEV) rather than to a fever. Jesus healed two persons afflicted with fevers—Peter's mother-in-law ( Matthew 8:14; Mark 1:30; Luke 4:38 ) and an official's son (John 4:52 ). In Luke the healing was portrayed as an exorcism. In Acts 28:8 Paul healed Publius of a fever and dysentery (“bloody flux” KJV). See Diseases, Treatment of.