27 Bible Verses about Famine

For though the fig tree shall not flourish, nor shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no food. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in LORD. I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, because your reward is great in the heavens, for so they persecuted the prophets before you.

Rejoice ye in that day, and leap, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did in the same way to the prophets.

When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight, and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness, and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay,

And thou shall eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, whom LORD thy God has given thee, in the siege and in the distress with which thine enemies shall distress thee.

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

A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and they shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee, and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee, and a third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will

And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, [which] thy sons and thy daughters should eat. They shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds. They shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees. They shall beat down thy fortified cities,

Therefore my people have gone into captivity for lack of knowledge, and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.

For wickedness burns as the fire. It devours the briers and thorns. Yea, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. Through the wrath of LORD of hosts is the land burnt up, and the people are as the fuel of fire; no man spares his brother. 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-- read more.
Manasseh, Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh, and together they shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of LORD. And LORD said, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites.

And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

And it came to pass after many days, that the word of LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.

And there was a great famine in Samaria. And, behold, they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for eighty [pieces] of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five [pieces] of silver. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If LORD does not help thee, from where shall I help thee? Out of the threshing-floor, or out of the winepress? read more.
And the king said to her, What troubles thee? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give thy son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, Give thy son that we may eat him. And she has hid her son.

And one of them named Agabus, after standing up, signified by the Spirit there was going be a great famine in the whole world, which also happened under Claudius Caesar.

For though the fig tree shall not flourish, nor shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no food. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and plagues and earthquakes in places.

And the seven lean and ill-favored cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind, they shall be seven years of famine.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and plagues and earthquakes in places.

So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there. They shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon

The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine inside. He who is in the field shall die with the sword, and he who is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

And Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. And the famine was severe in Samaria.

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said to Ahab, As LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

And I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest. And I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city. One piece was rained upon, and the piece upon which it

The word of LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. Judah mourns, and the gates thereof languish. They sit in black upon the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. And their ranking men send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are put to shame and confounded, and cover their heads, read more.
because of the ground which is cracked. Because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are put to shame; they cover their heads.

The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labors, shall a nation eat up which thou know not. And thou shall only be oppressed and crushed always,

and shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, until thou be destroyed, that also shall not leave thee grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of thy cattle, or the young of thy flock, until they have caused thee

Thou shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in, for the locust shall consume it.

All thy trees and the fruit of thy ground shall the locust possess.

Their visage is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become like a stick.

Our skin is black like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.

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

And the king said to her, What troubles thee? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give thy son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, Give thy son that we may eat him. And she has hid her son.

When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight, and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

And if ye walk contrary to me, and will not hearken to me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

And there was a great famine in Samaria. And, behold, they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for eighty [pieces] of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five [pieces] of silver.

Those who fed luxuriously are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

Their visage is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become like a stick.

that they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.

Therefore thus says LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.

And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and

And the seven lean and ill-favored cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind, they shall be seven years of famine.

Now Elisha had spoken to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thy household, and sojourn wherever thou can sojourn, for LORD has called for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seve And the woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of God. And she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall

Therefore thus says LORD of hosts: Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters shall die by famine,

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said to Ahab, As LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

And Ahab said to Obadiah, Go through the land, to all the fountains of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the beasts.

And it shall be, that thou shall drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.

Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee.

In famine he will redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword.

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

They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands, yet ye [turned] not to me, says LORD.

I have smitten you with blasting and mildew. The multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees the palmer-worm has devoured. Yet ye have not returned to me, says LORD.

In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

On the ninth day of the [fourth] month the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

And thou shall eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, whom LORD thy God has given thee, in the siege and in the distress with which thine enemies shall distress thee.

And the king said to her, What troubles thee? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give thy son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

[to be] wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. And I will send upon them the teeth of beasts, with the poison of crawling things of the dust.

And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to an end. And the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said. And there was famine 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 to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do. read more.
And the famine was over all the face of the earth. And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

And I will save you from all your uncleannesses. And I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye may no more receive the reproach of famine among the nations.

And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered wild gourds from it, his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they did not know them. So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat of it.

Yea, the hind also in the field calves, and forsakes [it] because there is no grass. And the wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there is no herbage.

LORD will be terrible to them, for he will famish all the gods of the earth. And men shall worship him, everyone from his place, even all the isles of the nations.

The word of LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of LORD. And LORD said, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites.

And there was no bread in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.

For thus says lord LORD: How much more when I send my four severe judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!

On the ninth day of the [fourth] month the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

And there was a great famine in Samaria. And, behold, they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for eighty [pieces] of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five [pieces] of silver.

And Elisha came again to Gilgal. And there was a dearth in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And he said to his servant, Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets.

And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and plagues and earthquakes in places.

There were some also who said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain because of the dearth.

And there was a great famine in Samaria. And, behold, they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for eighty [pieces] of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five [pieces] of silver.

Behold, the days come, says lord LORD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of LORD. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of LORD, and shall not find it.

when I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. And I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread.

Be confounded, O ye husbandmen. Wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley, for the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is withered, and the fig tree languishes. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered. For joy has withered away from the sons of men. Gird yourselves [with sackcloth], and lament, ye priests. Wail, ye ministers of the altar. Come, lay all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God. For the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withheld from the house of your G

Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness, and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay,

And he called for a famine upon the land. He broke the whole staff of bread.

Now Elisha had spoken to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thy household, and sojourn wherever thou can sojourn, for LORD has called for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seve

And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to an end. And the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said. And there was famine 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 to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do. read more.
And the famine was over all the face of the earth. And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe on all the earth.

For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. Therefore I will take back my grain in the time of it, and my new wine in the season of it, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.

And one of them named Agabus, after standing up, signified by the Spirit there was going be a great famine in the whole world, which also happened under Claudius Caesar.

For, behold, the Lord, LORD of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and staff, the whole support of bread, and the whole support of water,

The seeds rot under their clods. The garners are laid desolate. The barns are broken down. For the grain is withered.

And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places, yet ye have not returned to me, says LORD.

And one of them named Agabus, after standing up, signified by the Spirit there was going be a great famine in the whole world, which also happened under Claudius Caesar.

Behold, the days come, says lord LORD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of LORD.

For though the fig tree shall not flourish, nor shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no food. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in LORD. I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, because your reward is great in the heavens, for so they persecuted the prophets before you.

Rejoice ye in that day, and leap, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did in the same way to the prophets.

Thou shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. Thou shall plant vineyards and dress them, but thou shall neither drink of the wine, nor gather, for the worm shall eat them. Thou shall have olive trees throughout all thy borders, but thou shall not anoint thyself with the oil, for thine olive shall drop off.

And I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest. And I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city. One piece was rained upon, and the piece upon which it So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied. Yet ye have not returned to me, says LORD. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew. The multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees the palmer-worm has devoured. Yet ye have not returned to me, says LORD.

When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight, and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

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

And I will break the pride of your power. And I will make your sky as iron, and your earth as brass, and your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

For though the fig tree shall not flourish, nor shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no food. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in LORD. I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, because your reward is great in the heavens, for so they persecuted the prophets before you.

Rejoice ye in that day, and leap, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did in the same way to the prophets.

Our skin is black like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.

Therefore thus says LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.

These two things have befallen thee (Who shall bemoan thee?): Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword. How shall I comfort thee?