the Sixth Week after Easter
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Famine
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or A. Noun.
Râ‛âb (רָעָב, Strong's #7458), “famine; hunger.” This word appears about 101 times and in all periods of biblical Hebrew. Râ‛âb means “hunger” as opposed to “thirst”: “Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things …” (Deut. 28:48).
Another meaning of the word is “famine,” or the lack of food in an entire geographical area: “And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt …” (Gen. 12:10—the first occurrence). God used a “famine” as a means of judgment (Jer. 5:12), of warning (1 Kings 17:1), of correction (2 Sam. 21:1), or of punishment (Jer. 14:12), and the “famine” was always under divine control, being planned and used by Him. Râ‛âb was also used to picture the “lack of God’s word” (Amos 8:11; cf. Deut. 8:3).
B. Verb.
Râ‛êb (רָעֵב, Strong's #7456), “to be hungry, suffer famine.” This verb, which appears in the Old Testament 14 times, has cognates in Ugaritic (rgb), Arabic, and Ethiopic. The first biblical occurrence is in Gen. 41:55: “And when all the land of Egypt was famished.…”
C. Adjective.
Râ‛êb (רָעֵב, Strong's #7456, רָעֵב, Strong's #7457), “hungry.” This word appears as an adjective 19 times. The first biblical occurrence is in 1 Sam. 2:5: “… And they that were hungry ceased: …”
These files are public domain.
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Famine'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/f/famine.html. 1940.
