'Food' in the Bible

Yes, the dogs are for ever looking for food; while these, the keepers of the sheep, are without wisdom: they have all gone after their pleasure, every one looking for profit; they are all the same.

Your portion [is] among [the] smooth [stones] of [the] valley; they, they [are] your lot; indeed, to them you have poured out a drink offering, you have brought a food offering. Shall I relent concerning these [things]?

They say, Why have we kept ourselves from food, and you do not see it? why have we kept ourselves from pleasure, and you take no note of it? If, in the days when you keep from food, you take the chance to do your business, and get in your debts;

If keeping from food makes you quickly angry, ready for fighting and giving blows with evil hands; your holy days are not such as to make your voice come to my ears on high.

I want you to share your food with the hungry and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don't turn your back on your own flesh and blood!

They give birth to snake's eggs, and make spider's threads: whoever takes their eggs for food comes to his death, and the egg which is crushed becomes a poison-snake.

But you will be named the priests of the Lord, the servants of our God: you will have the wealth of the nations for your food, and you will be clothed with their glory.

The Lord has sworn with His right handand His strong arm:I will no longer give your grainto your enemies for food,and foreigners will not drink your new wineyou have labored for.

But those who have got in the grain will have it for their food, and will give praise to the Lord; and those who have got in the grapes will take the wine of them in the open places of my holy house.

Who are seated in the resting-places of the dead, and by night are in the secret places; who take pig's flesh for food, and have the liquid of disgusting things in their vessels.

For this cause says the Lord God, My servants will have food, but you will be in need of food: my servants will have drink, but you will be dry: my servants will have joy, but you will be shamed:

The wolf and the lamb will feed together,and the lion will eat straw like the ox,but the serpent’s food will be dust!They will not do what is evil or destroyon My entire holy mountain,”says the Lord.

As for those who keep themselves separate, and make themselves clean in the gardens, going after one in the middle, taking pig's flesh for food, and other disgusting things, such as the mouse: their works and their thoughts will come to an end together, says the Lord.

“O generation [that you are], consider and regard carefully the word of the Lord.Have I been a wilderness to Israel [like a land without food],A land of thick and deep darkness [like a path without light]?Why do My people say, ‘We [have broken loose and we] are free to roam [at will];We will no longer come to You’?

And I will give you keepers, pleasing to my heart, who will give you your food with knowledge and wisdom.

And so a lion from the woods will put them to death, a wolf of the waste land will make them waste, a leopard will keep watch on their towns, and everyone who goes out from them will be food for the beasts; because of the great number of their sins and the increase of their wrongdoing.

Why should I forgive you? Your sons have forsaken me, and you have sworn by those who aren't gods. When I gave them enough food to satisfy them, they committed adultery and marched to the prostitute's house.

They would have nothing to do with the Lord, saying, He will do nothing, and no evil will come to us; we will not see the sword or be short of food:

They will consume your harvest and your food.They will consume your sons and your daughters.They will consume your flocks and your herds.They will consume your vines and your fig trees.They will destroy with the swordyour fortified cities in which you trust.

Keepers of sheep with their flocks will come to her; they will put up their tents round her; everyone will get food in his place.

These are the words of the Lord of armies, the God of Israel: Put your burned offerings with your offerings of beasts, and take flesh for your food.

The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.

So then, listen to what I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, say. 'I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment.

And I am as a trained lamb brought to slaughter, And I have not known That against me they have devised devices: We destroy the tree with its food, and cut him off From the land of the living, And his name is not remembered again.

So the Lord of armies has said, See, I will send punishment on them: the young men will be put to the sword; their sons and their daughters will come to death through need of food:

A speckled fowl is Mine inheritance to Me? Is the fowl round about against her? Come, assemble, every beast of the field, Come ye for food.

Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals. Their eyes are strained looking for food, because there is none to be found."

When they go without food, I will not give ear to their cry; when they give burned offerings and meal offerings, I will not take pleasure in them: but I will put an end to them by the sword and by need of food and by disease.

Then I said, Ah, Lord God! see, the prophets say to them, You will not see the sword or be short of food; but I will give you certain peace in this place.

So this is what the Lord has said about the prophets who make use of my name, though I sent them not, and say, The sword and need of food will not be in this land: the sword and need of food will put an end to those prophets.

And the people to whom they are prophets will be pushed out dead into the streets of Jerusalem, because there is no food, and because of the sword; and they will have no one to put their bodies into the earth, them or their wives or their sons or their daughters: for I will let loose their evil-doing on them.

If I go out into the open country, there are those put to death by the sword! and if I go into the town, there are those who are diseased from need of food! for the prophet and the priest go about in the land and have no knowledge.

And it will be, when they say to you, Where are we to go? then you are to say to them, The Lord has said, Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are to be in need of food, to need of food; and such as are to be taken away prisoners, to be taken away.

And I will put over them four divisions, says the Lord: the sword causing death, dogs pulling the dead bodies about, and the birds of heaven, and the beasts of the earth to take their bodies for food and put an end to them.

They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like manure on the face of the earth. They will be finished off by sword and famine. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

Food won’t be provided for the mourner to comfort him because of the dead. A cup of consolation won’t be given him because of the loss of his father or mother.

And you are not to go into the house of feasting, or be seated with them to take food or drink.

For this cause, let their children be without food, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives be without children and become widows; let their men be overtaken by death, and their young men be put to the sword in the fight.

I will spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who want to take their life. I will provide their corpses as food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

I will make them take the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters for food, they will be making a meal of one another, because of their bitter need and the cruel grip of their haters and those who have made designs against their life.

And after that, says the Lord, I will give up Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his servants and his people, even those in the town who have not come to their end from the disease and the sword and from need of food, into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of their haters, and into the hands of those desiring their death: he will put them to the sword; he will not let anyone get away, he will have no pity or mercy.

He who keeps in this town will come to his death by the sword and through need of food and through disease; but he who goes out and gives himself up to the Chaldaeans who are shutting you in, will go on living, and will keep his life safe.

Does it make you any more of a king that you outstrip everyone else in building with cedar? Just think about your father. He was content that he had food and drink. He did what was just and right. So things went well with him.

All the keepers of your sheep will be food for the wind, and your lovers will be taken away prisoners: truly, then you will be shamed and unhonoured because of all your evil-doing.

So then I, the Lord who rules over all, have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: 'I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason that ungodliness has spread throughout the land.'"

One basket had very good figs, like the figs which first come to growth: and the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they were of no use for food.

Then the Lord said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs are very good, and the bad very bad, and of no use for food, they are so bad.

And like the bad figs which are so bad that they are of no use for food, so I will give up Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his chiefs and the rest of Jerusalem who are still in this land, and those who are in the land of Egypt:

And I will send the sword, and need of food, and disease, among them till they are all cut off from the land which I gave to them and to their fathers.

And it will come about, that if any nation does not become a servant to this same Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and does not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, then I will send punishment on that nation, says the Lord, by the sword and need of food and by disease, till I have given them into his hands.

Why are you desiring death, you and your people, by the sword, and because food is gone, and by disease, as the Lord has said of the nation which does not become the servant of the king of Babylon?

This is what the Lord of armies has said: See, I will send on them the sword and need of food and disease, and will make them like bad figs, which are of no use for food, they are so bad.

I will go after them, attacking them with the sword and with need of food and with disease, and will make them a cause of fear to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and a wonder and a surprise and a name of shame among all the nations where I have sent them:

For this cause, all those who take you for their food will themselves become your food; and all your attackers, every one of them, will be taken prisoners; and those who send destruction on you will come to destruction; and all those who take away your goods by force will undergo the same themselves.

See, they have made earthworks against the town to take it; and the town is given into the hands of the Chaldaeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword and need of food and disease: and what you have said has taken place, and truly you see it.

And now the Lord, the God of Israel, has said of this town, about which you say, It is given into the hands of the king of Babylon by the sword and by need of food and by disease:

And so the Lord has said, You have not given ear to me and undertaken publicly, every man to let loose his countryman and his neighbour: see, I undertake to let loose against you the sword and disease and need of food; and I will send you wandering among all the kingdoms of the earth.

will be handed over to their enemies, to those who want to take their life. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

So you are to go, reading there from the book, which you have taken down from my mouth, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of the people in the Lord's house, on a day when they go without food, and in the hearing of all the men of Judah who have come out from their towns.

Now it came about in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that it was given out publicly that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem, were to keep from food before the Lord.

These are the words of the Lord: Whoever goes on living in this town will come to his death by the sword or through need of food or by disease: but whoever goes out to the Chaldaeans will keep his life out of the power of the attackers and be safe.

"Your royal Majesty, those men have been very wicked in all that they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have thrown him into a cistern and he is sure to die of starvation there because there is no food left in the city.

When he still did not respond, Nebuzaradan said, "Return to Ahikam's son Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and remain with him among the people or go wherever it seems right for you to go." Then the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a gift and sent him off.

and if you say, ‘No, instead we’ll go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram’s horn or hunger for food, and we’ll live there,’

Then it will come about that the sword, which is the cause of your fear, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and need of food, which you are fearing, will go after you there in Egypt; and there death will come to you.

Such will be the fate of all the men whose minds are fixed on going into Egypt and stopping there; they will come to their end by the sword, by being short of food, and by disease: not one of them will keep his life or get away from the evil which I will send on them.

And now be certain that you will come to your end by the sword and by being short of food and by disease, in the place to which you are pleased to go for a living-place.

And I will take the last of Judah, whose minds are fixed on going into the land of Egypt and stopping there, and they will all come to their end, falling in the land of Egypt by the sword and by being short of food and by disease; death will overtake them, from the least to the greatest, death by the sword and by need of food: they will become an oath and a cause of wonder and a curse and a name of shame.

For I will send punishment on those who are living in the land of Egypt, as I have sent punishment on Jerusalem, by the sword and by need of food and by disease:

Instead, we will do everything we said we would: burn incense to the queen of heaven and offer drink offerings to her just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in Judah’s cities and in Jerusalem’s streets. Then we had enough food and good things and saw no disaster,

But from the time when we gave up burning perfumes to the queen of heaven and draining out drink offerings to her, we have been in need of all things, and have been wasted by the sword and by need of food.

See, I am watching over them for evil and not for good: all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be wasted by the sword and by need of food till there is an end of them.

Make him full of wine, for his heart has been lifted up against the Lord: and Moab will be rolling in the food he was not able to keep down, and everyone will be making sport of him.

And I will make Israel come back to his resting-place, and he will get his food on Carmel and Bashan, and have his desire in full measure on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.

By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the people of the land had no food.

So he changed the garments of his imprisonment and he ate food {before him} continually all the days of his life.

And for his food, the king gave him a regular amount every day till the day of his death, for the rest of his life.

And all her glory has gone from the daughter of Zion: her rulers have become like harts with no place for food, and they have gone in flight without strength before the attacker.

כ KafAll her people groanwhile they search for bread.They have traded their precious belongings for foodin order to stay alive.Lord, look and seehow I have become despised.

ק QofI called to my lovers,but they betrayed me.My priests and eldersperished in the citywhile searching for foodto keep themselves alive.

(Lamed) Children say to their mothers, "Where are food and drink?" They faint like a wounded warrior in the city squares. They die slowly in their mothers' arms.

Up! give cries in the night, at the starting of the night-watches; let your heart be flowing out like water before the face of the Lord, lifting up your hands to him for the life of your young children who are falling down, feeble for need of food, at the top of every street.

Look! O Lord, see to whom you have done this! Are the women to take as their food the fruit of their bodies, the children who are folded in their arms? are the priest and the prophet to be put to death in the holy place of the Lord?

The tongue of the infant clingsTo the roof of its mouth because of thirst;The little ones ask for food,But no one gives it to them.

Those who were used to feasting on delicate food are wasted in the streets: those who as children were dressed in purple are stretched out on the dust.

Those who die by the sword are better off than those who die from starvation, who slowly waste away like those pierced through for lack of food from the fields.

י YodThe hands of compassionate womenhave cooked their own children;they became their foodduring the destruction of my dear people.

We made a treaty with Egyptand with Assyria, to get enough food.

We secure our food at the risk of our livesbecause of the sword in the wilderness.

Our skin is heated like an oven because of our burning heat from need of food.

And he said to me, Son of man, take this roll for your food, and go and say my words to the children of Israel.

And, on my opening my mouth, he made me take the roll as food.

"As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, put them in a single container, and make food from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side -- 390 days -- you will eat it.

The food you eat each day will be eight ounces by weight; you will eat it from time to time.

And you must eat the food like you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement."

Then the LORD said, "This is how the Israelis will be eating unclean food among the nations, where I'll be sending them."

Then I said, Ah, Lord! see, my soul has never been unclean, and I have never taken as my food anything which has come to a natural death or has been broken by beasts, from the time when I was young even till now; no disgusting flesh has ever come into my mouth.

"Okay," he responded. "I'll allow you to substitute cow's dung for human dung. Cook your food over that."

so that they will lack food and water, and they will be appalled {with one another}, and they will waste away because of their guilt.

For this cause fathers will take their sons for food among you, and sons will make a meal of their fathers; and I will be judge among you, and all the rest of you I will send away to every wind.