27 Bible Verses about Famine

Though the fig tree [does] not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vines; the yield of [the] olive tree fails, and the cultivated fields do not yield food; [the] flock is cut off from the animal pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh; I will exult in the God of my salvation.

Rejoice and be glad, because your reward [is] great in heaven, for in the [same] way they persecuted the prophets before you.

Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward [is] great in heaven. For their fathers used to do the same [things] to the prophets.

At my breaking [the] {supply} of bread for you, then ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall return your bread by weight; and you shall eat [it], and you shall not be satisfied.

And he said to me, "Son of man, look, I [am] going to break the {supply} of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight, {anxiously}, and {rationed water}, and they will drink with horror,

And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, {during the siege and during the distress} your enemy inflicts upon you.

And the people [to] whom they [are] prophesying will be cast out into the streets of Jerusalem {because of} the famine and the sword. And there will be no [one who] buries them, their wives, or their sons, or their daughters. And I will pour out on them their wickedness.

A third of you will die because of the plague, and because of the famine they will perish in the midst of you, and a third will fall through the sword around you, and a third I will scatter to every direction of the wind, and I will draw [the] sword behind them.

And they will eat your harvest and your food, they will eat your sons and your daughters, they will eat your flock and your herd, they will eat your vine and your fig tree, they will smash with the sword {your fortified cities}, in which you trust.

All her people groan, they are searching for bread. They give their treasures for food, to bring back life. See, O Yahweh, and look, [how] I am despised.

Therefore my people will go into exile without knowledge, [and] their nobles [will be] men of hunger, and their multitude [is] parched [with] thirst.

I have called to my lovers, they themselves deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city when they sought food for themselves to revive their life.

For wickedness burned like fire; it consumed brier and thorn. And it kindled the thickets of the forest, and they swirled upward [in] a column of smoke. The land was burned through the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, and the people became like fire fuel. {People had no compassion toward each other}. They devoured on [the] right but [still] were hungry and devoured on [the] left but they were not satisfied. Each one devoured the flesh of his arm, read more.
Manasseh [devoured] Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they [were] against Judah. In all of this his anger has not turned away, and still his hand [is] stretched out.

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

There [was] a famine in the days of David [for] three years, year after year. And David {inquired of Yahweh}, and Yahweh said, "The bloodguilt [is] on Saul and on his household, because he killed the Gibeonites."

And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell as an alien there, for the famine was severe in the land.

It happened many days [later] that the word of Yahweh came to Elijah in the third year, saying, "Go, present yourself to Ahab so that I may give rain on the surface of the earth."

There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege [was] against it, until the head of a donkey [went] for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves [went] for five shekels of silver. It happened that the king of Israel [was] crossing over on the wall, and a woman called out to him, saying, "Help, my lord the king!" He said, "No, let Yahweh help you. {How} can I save you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?" read more.
The king said to her, "{What is the problem}?" Then the woman said, "This woman said to me, 'Give me your son, and let us eat him today, then tomorrow we will eat my son.' So we cooked my son and ate him, and I said to her the next day, 'Give your son that we may eat him.' But she had hidden her son."

And one of them {named} Agabus stood up [and] indicated by the Spirit [that] a great famine was about to come over the whole inhabited earth (which took place in the time of Claudius).

Though the fig tree [does] not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vines; the yield of [the] olive tree fails, and the cultivated fields do not yield food; [the] flock is cut off from the animal pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls,

For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in [various] places.

And the seven thin and ugly cows coming up after them, they [are] seven years, and the seven empty ears of grain, scorched by the east wind, they are [also] seven years of famine.

For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in [various] places.

So all the people who {are determined} to go [to] Egypt to dwell as aliens there will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, and there will not be for them an escapee or a survivor from the disaster that I [am] bringing upon them."

The sword {is outside}, and the plague and the famine {are inside}; [the one] who [is] in the field will die by the sword, and [the one] who [is] in the city, famine and plague will devour him.

And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell as an alien there, for the famine was severe in the land.

In the fourth month, on [the] ninth [day] of the month, the famine in the city became severe and there was no food for the people of the land.

So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine [was] severe in Samaria.

Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe of Gilead said to Ahab, "{As Yahweh lives}, the God of Israel before whom I stand, there shall surely not be dew nor rain these years {except by my command}."

"And I also withheld the rain from you when [there were] still three months to the harvest. And I would send rain on one city and send no rain on another city. One tract of land will be rained on, and [the] tract of land {on which it does not rain} will dry up.

[That] which came [as] the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah concerning the matter of the severe drought. "Judah mourns, and her gates languish, they are in mourning on the ground, and the cry of lament of Jerusalem goes up. And their nobles send their servants for water. They come to [the] pits, they find no water. They return [with] their vessels {empty}. They are ashamed, and they are confounded, and they cover their heads. read more.
Because of the ground, [which] is cracked because there was no rain on the ground. [The] farmers are ashamed, they cover their heads.

A people that you do not know shall consume the harvest of your land and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed {for the rest of your lives}.

And it shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground {until you are destroyed}, [and] who will not leave for you [any] grain, wine, and olive oil, {calves of your herds}, and {lambs of} your flock {until it has destroyed you}.

"You shall carry out much seed to the field, but you shall gather little [produce], for the locust shall devour it.

The cricket shall take possession of all your trees and the fruit of your ground.

[Now] their appearance is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones, it has become dry like wood.

Our skin is hot like an oven because of the scorching famine.

And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat.

The king said to her, "{What is the problem}?" Then the woman said, "This woman said to me, 'Give me your son, and let us eat him today, then tomorrow we will eat my son.' So we cooked my son and ate him, and I said to her the next day, 'Give your son that we may eat him.' But she had hidden her son."

At my breaking [the] {supply} of bread for you, then ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall return your bread by weight; and you shall eat [it], and you shall not be satisfied.

" 'And if you go against me [in] hostility and you are not willing to listen to me, then I will add a plague onto you seven times according to your sins.

There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege [was] against it, until the head of a donkey [went] for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves [went] for five shekels of silver.

The ones who eat delicacies, they are ruined in the streets; the ones nurtured in purple lie [on] piles of trash.

[Now] their appearance is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones, it has become dry like wood.

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.

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophecy in my name though I have not sent them, yet they [are] saying, "Sword and famine will not be in this land." "By the sword and by the famine those prophets will perish.

And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague, and I will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse, and a horror, and [an object of] hissing, and a disgrace among all the nations to which I have driven them,

And the seven thin and ugly cows coming up after them, they [are] seven years, and the seven empty ears of grain, scorched by the east wind, they are [also] seven years of famine.

Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Get up and go, you and your household, and dwell as an alien wherever you can, for Yahweh has called for a famine, and it will come to the land [for] seven years." So the woman got up and did according to the word of the man of God. She and her household went and dwelt as an alien in the land of [the] Philistines for seven years.

If we say, 'Let us go [into] the city,' the famine [is] in the city, and we shall die there; but if we sit here, we shall die. So then, come, let us fall into the camp of [the] Arameans. If they let us live, we shall live; but if they kill us, then we shall die."

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Look, I [am about to] punish them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters will die by the famine.

Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe of Gilead said to Ahab, "{As Yahweh lives}, the God of Israel before whom I stand, there shall surely not be dew nor rain these years {except by my command}."

Ahab said to Obadiah, "Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the wadis. Perhaps we may find green grass that we may keep horses and mules alive and that we might not lose any of the animals."

It shall be that you shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the crows to sustain you there."

"Get up and go to Zarephath which belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman there, a widow, to sustain you."

In famine he will redeem you 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 will not be put to shame in distressing times, and in [the] days of famine they will be satisfied.

I struck you with blight, and with plant mildew, and hail, all the work of your hands. But {you did not come back to me},' {declares} Yahweh.

"I struck you with blight and with mildew. Frequently the cutting locust devoured your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees, yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh.

In the fourth month, on [the] ninth [day] of the month, the famine in the city became severe and there was no food for the people of the land.

In the ninth month, the famine became severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land.

And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, {during the siege and during the distress} your enemy inflicts upon you.

The king said to her, "{What is the problem}?" Then the woman said, "This woman said to me, 'Give me your son, and let us eat him today, then tomorrow we will eat my son.'

[They will become] weakened by famine, and consumed by plague and bitter pestilence; and the teeth of wild animals I will send against them, with [the] poison of [the] creeping [things] in [the] dust;

And the seven years of abundance which [were] in the land of Egypt came to an end. And the seven years of famine began to come as Joseph had said. And there was famine in all of the countries, but in the land of Egypt there was food. And when all the land of Egypt was hungry the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. And Pharaoh said to all the land of Egypt, "Go to Joseph; what he says to you, you must do." read more.
And the famine was over the whole land, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold [food] to the Egyptians. And the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

And I will save you from all of your uncleanness, and I will call to the grain, and I will cause it to increase, and I will not bring famine upon you. And I will cause the fruit of the tree and the crop of the field to increase, so that you will not suffer again [the] disgrace of famine among the nations.

One went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a {wild vine} and gathered wild gourds from it [and] filled his cloak. Then he came and cut them into the pot of stew, but they did not know [what they were]. They served the men to eat, but when they ate from the stew, they cried out and said, "There [is] death in the pot, man of God!" They were not able to eat [it].

For even [the] doe in the field gives birth and forsakes [her young], because there is no green growth. And wild asses stand on [the] barren heights, they gasp [for] breath like the jackals. Their eyes fail because there is no vegetation."

Yahweh [will be] awesome against them, for he will destroy all the gods of the earth and all the lands of the nations; each in its place will bow down to him.

[That] which came [as] the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah concerning the matter of the severe drought.

And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell as an alien there, for the famine was severe in the land.

There [was] a famine in the days of David [for] three years, year after year. And David {inquired of Yahweh}, and Yahweh said, "The bloodguilt [is] on Saul and on his household, because he killed the Gibeonites."

Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine [was] very severe. And the land of Egypt languished, with the land of Canaan, on account of the famine.

For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "How much more when I send my four punishments--the evil sword, and famine, and fierce animal, and a plague--to Jerusalem to cut it off, [both] human and animal!

In the ninth month, the famine became severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land.

There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege [was] against it, until the head of a donkey [went] for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves [went] for five shekels of silver.

So Elisha returned to Gilgal. Now the famine [was] in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. He said to his servant, put on the large pot and cook a stew for the sons of the prophets.

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

For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in [various] places.

There were also those saying, "We have pledged our fields and our vineyards and our houses so that we can get grain in the famine."

There was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, a siege [was] against it, until the head of a donkey [went] for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of the measure of the dung of doves [went] for five shekels of silver.

Look, the days are coming," {declares} my Lord Yahweh, "when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread and not a thirst for water, but {of hearing} the words of Yahweh! And they will wander from sea to sea and from [the] north and to [the] east. They will roam about to seek the word of Yahweh, but they will not find [it]!

When I send my arrows of deadly famine against them, which will be as destruction that I will send [in order] to destroy you, I will increase famine against you, and I will break {the supply of food} for you.

Be ashamed, farmers; Wail, vinedressers, over [the] wheat and over [the] barley, because [the] harvest of the field is ruined. The vine withers and the fig tree droops. The pomegranate tree, and also the palm tree, the apple tree --all the trees of the field--are dried up. Indeed, joy is dried up among the sons of men. Gird yourselves and lament, O priests! Wail, ministers of [the] altar! Come spend the night in sackcloth, ministers of my God, because offering and libation are withheld from the house of your God.

And he said to me, "Son of man, look, I [am] going to break the {supply} of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight, {anxiously}, and {rationed water}, and they will drink with horror,

Then he called for a famine upon the land; he broke every {supply} of bread.

Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Get up and go, you and your household, and dwell as an alien wherever you can, for Yahweh has called for a famine, and it will come to the land [for] seven years."

And the seven years of abundance which [were] in the land of Egypt came to an end. And the seven years of famine began to come as Joseph had said. And there was famine in all of the countries, but in the land of Egypt there was food. And when all the land of Egypt was hungry the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. And Pharaoh said to all the land of Egypt, "Go to Joseph; what he says to you, you must do." read more.
And the famine was over the whole land, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold [food] to the Egyptians. And the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. And every land came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, for the famine was severe in every land.

But she did not know that [it was] I who gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and who gave her silver in abundance, and gold which they made into a Baal. Therefore I will take again my grain in its time, and my wine in its season; and I will take away my wool and my flax, [which were] to cover her nakedness.

And one of them {named} Agabus stood up [and] indicated by the Spirit [that] a great famine was about to come over the whole inhabited earth (which took place in the time of Claudius).

For look, the Lord Yahweh of hosts [is] removing {every source of support} from Jerusalem and from Judah: all of [the] supplies of bread and all of [the] supplies of water,

The seeds shrivel under their clods; the storehouses are desolate. The grain storage places are destroyed because grain has dried out.

And it happened in the days [when] {the judges ruled}, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem [of] Judah went {to reside} in the countryside of Moab--he and his wife and his two sons.

"And I in turn gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places. Yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh.

And one of them {named} Agabus stood up [and] indicated by the Spirit [that] a great famine was about to come over the whole inhabited earth (which took place in the time of Claudius).

Look, the days are coming," {declares} my Lord Yahweh, "when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread and not a thirst for water, but {of hearing} the words of Yahweh!

Though the fig tree [does] not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vines; the yield of [the] olive tree fails, and the cultivated fields do not yield food; [the] flock is cut off from the animal pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh; I will exult in the God of my salvation.

Rejoice and be glad, because your reward [is] great in heaven, for in the [same] way they persecuted the prophets before you.

Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward [is] great in heaven. For their fathers used to do the same [things] to the prophets.

"You shall carry out much seed to the field, but you shall gather little [produce], for the locust shall devour it. You shall plant vineyards and you shall dress [them], but you shall not drink wine and you shall not gather grapes, for the worm shall eat it. There shall be olive trees for you in all of your territory, but you shall not anoint [yourself], for your olives shall drop off.

"And I also withheld the rain from you when [there were] still three months to the harvest. And I would send rain on one city and send no rain on another city. One tract of land will be rained on, and [the] tract of land {on which it does not rain} will dry up. So two [or] three cities wandered to one city to drink water and they were not satisfied, yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh. "I struck you with blight and with mildew. Frequently the cutting locust devoured your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees, yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh.

At my breaking [the] {supply} of bread for you, then ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall return your bread by weight; and you shall eat [it], and you shall not be satisfied.

And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat.

And I will break the pride of your strength; and I will make your heaven like iron and your land like copper. And your strength shall be consumed {in vain}; and your land shall not give its produce, and the land's trees shall not give their fruit.

Though the fig tree [does] not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vines; the yield of [the] olive tree fails, and the cultivated fields do not yield food; [the] flock is cut off from the animal pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh; I will exult in the God of my salvation.

Rejoice and be glad, because your reward [is] great in heaven, for in the [same] way they persecuted the prophets before you.

Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward [is] great in heaven. For their fathers used to do the same [things] to the prophets.

Our skin is hot like an oven because of the scorching famine.

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophecy in my name though I have not sent them, yet they [are] saying, "Sword and famine will not be in this land." "By the sword and by the famine those prophets will perish.

Two [things] here [have] happened to you--who will {show sympathy} for you?-- devastation and destruction, famine and sword--who will comfort you?