27 Bible Verses about Famine

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be on 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 the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.

Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

And when I have broken the supply of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and you shall eat, and not be satisfied.

Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay:

And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which the LORD your God has given you, in the siege, and in the distress, with which your enemies shall distress you:

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 their wickedness upon them.

A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about you; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish your fortified cities, in which you trusted, with the sword.

All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their treasures for food to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I have become despised.

Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and my elders died in the city, while they sought their food to relieve their souls.

For wickedness burns as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the rising of smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land burned, and the people shall be as the fuel for the fire: no man shall spare his brother. And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall devour on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: read more.
Manasseh shall devour Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together 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 unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew 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 the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself unto 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 fourscore 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, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If the LORD does not help you, how shall I help you? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? read more.
And the king said unto her, What ails you? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give your son, that we may eat him: and she has hid her son.

And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great famine throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be on 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 shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places.

And the seven thin and ill favored cows that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears dried by the east wind shall be seven years of famine.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places.

So shall it be with all the men that 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 disaster that I will bring upon them.

The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine inside: he that is in the field shall die by the sword; and he that 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.

And 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 unto Ahab. And there was a severe famine in Samaria.

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

And also I 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 part was rained upon, and the part upon which it rained not withered.

The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. Judah mourns, and its gates languish; they mourn for the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones for water: they came to the cisterns, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. read more.
Because the ground is parched, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.

The fruit of your land, and all your labors, shall a nation which you know not eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually:

And he shall eat the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed: who also shall not leave you either grain, wine, or oil, or the increase of your cattle, or offspring of your sheep, until he has destroyed you.

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

All your trees and fruit of your land shall the locust consume.

Their appearance is now blacker than coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered, it has become like a dry stick.

Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

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

And the king said unto her, What ails you? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give your son, that we may eat him: and she has hid her son.

And when I have broken the supply of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and you shall eat, and not be satisfied.

And if you walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto 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 fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.

They that did eat delicacies are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace ash heaps.

Their appearance is now blacker than coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered, it has become like a dry stick.

That they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and waste away for their iniquity.

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

And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them:

And the seven thin and ill favored cows that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears dried by the east wind shall be seven years of famine.

Then spoke Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go you and your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn: for the LORD has called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. And the woman arose, and did after the saying 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 unto the army of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.

Therefore thus says the 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 inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD 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 unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: perhaps we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the animals.

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

Arise, get you to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain you.

In famine he shall 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 shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

I struck you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you turned not to me, says the LORD.

I have smitten you with blight and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the locust devoured them: yet have you not returned unto me, says the LORD.

And 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 on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land.

And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which the LORD your God has given you, in the siege, and in the distress, with which your enemies shall distress you:

And the king said unto her, What ails you? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of animals upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. And the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the famine was 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 unto all the Egyptians, Go unto 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 unto the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

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

And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not. 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 you man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat of it.

Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass. And the wild donkeys did stand in the high places, they sniffed at the wind like jackals; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.

The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the coasts of the nations.

The word of the 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.

Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

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

For thus says the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four severe judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the wild beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no food 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 fourscore 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 famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto 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 unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places.

Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy grain, because of the famine.

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

Behold, the days come, says the Lord GOD, 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 the 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 the LORD, and shall not find it.

When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will cut off your supply of bread:

Be ashamed, O you farmers; wail, O you vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished. The vine is dried up, 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: because joy has withered away from the sons of men. Gird yourselves, and lament, you priests: wail, you ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God: for the grain offering and the drink offering is withheld from the house of your God.

Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay:

Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he broke every staff of bread.

Then spoke Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go you and your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn: for the LORD has called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.

And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. And the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the famine was 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 unto all the Egyptians, Go unto 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 unto the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy grain; because that the famine was so severe in all lands.

For she did not know that I gave her grain, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and will take back my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great famine throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, does take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stock and the store, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water.

The seed shrivels under the clods, the storehouses are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain has withered.

Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah 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 lack of bread in all your places: yet have you not returned unto me, says the LORD.

And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great famine throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

Behold, the days come, says the Lord GOD, 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 the LORD:

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be on 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 the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.

Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards, and dress them, but shall neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off.

And also I 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 part was rained upon, and the part upon which it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered to one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have you not returned unto me, says the LORD. I have smitten you with blight and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the locust devoured them: yet have you not returned unto me, says the LORD.

And when I have broken the supply of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and you shall eat, and not be satisfied.

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

And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heavens as iron, and your earth as bronze: And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be on 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 the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.

Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

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

These two things have come unto you; who shall be sorry for you? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort you?