27 Bible Verses about Famine

Though the fig tree shall not blossom, and fruit is not on the vines; the labor of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food. The flock is cut off from the fold, and no herd is in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

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

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in Heaven. For so their fathers did according to these things to the prophets.

When I have broken the staff 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 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 care. And they shall drink water by measure, and in silence,

And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which Jehovah your God has given you, in the siege and in the anguish 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, either them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour their evil on them.

A third part of you shall die with the plague, and shall be consumed with the famine in your midst. And a third part shall fall by the sword all around 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. They will devour your sons and your daughters. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig-trees. One shall beat down your fortified cities with the sword, those in which you trust.

All her people sigh; they seek bread. They have given their desirable things for food to relieve the soul. See, O Jehovah, and look on me, for I have become vile.

For this My people go into exile without knowledge, and their honorable men into famine, and his multitude is dried up with thirst.

I called for my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and my elders expired in the city while they sought food for them to bring back their life.

For wickedness burns like the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall roll upwards like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts is the land scorched, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire; no man shall have pity on his brother. And he shall cut off on the right hand and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left, and they shall not be satisfied. Each man shall eat the flesh of his own arm; read more.
Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. In 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 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 inquired of Jehovah. And Jehovah answered, For Saul, and for his bloody house, because he killed the Gibeonites.

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

And it happened after many days the Word of Jehovah came to Elijah in the third year saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab. And I will send rain on the earth.

And there was a great famine in Samaria. And, behold, they besieged it until an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five silver pieces. And as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king! And he said, if Jehovah does not help you, from where shall I help you? Out of the barn-floor, or out of the winepress? read more.
And the king said to her, What ails you? And she said, This woman said to me, Give your son so that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. And we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the other day, Give your son so that we may eat him. And she has hidden her son.

And one of them named Agabus stood up and signified by the Spirit that there should be great famine over the world (which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar).

Though the fig tree shall not blossom, and fruit is not on the vines; the labor of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food. The flock is cut off from the fold, and no herd is in the stalls;

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places.

And the seven thin and evil-appearing cows that came up after them are seven years. And the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places.

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

The sword is outside, and the plague and the famine inside. He who is in the field shall die with the sword; and he in the city shall be devoured by famine and plague.

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

And in the fourth month, in the ninth of the month, the famine was very grievous in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

And Elijah went to be seen himself to Ahab. And there was a great famine in Samaria.

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

And I have also withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest. And I caused rain to fall on one city and caused it not to rain on another city; one piece was rained on, and the piece on which it did not rain dried up.

The Word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah concerning the matter of droughts. Judah mourns, and its gates droop. They are black to the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters; 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 was cracked, 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 be eaten up by a nation which you do not know. And you shall always be oppressed and crushed,

And he shall eat the fruit of your cattle and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed. He shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your livestock, or flocks of your sheep, until he has destroyed you.

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

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

Their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up; it has become like wood.

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

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

And the king said to her, What ails you? And she said, This woman said to me, Give your son so that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. And we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the other day, Give your son so that we may eat him. And she has hidden her son.

When I have broken the staff 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 to Me, and will not listen to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues on you according to your sins.

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

Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets; those reared in scarlet embrace dunghills.

Their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up; it has become like wood.

so that they may lack bread and water, and be stricken dumb with one another, and waste away in their iniquity.

So Jehovah says this 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 them with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and a waste, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them,

And the seven thin and evil-appearing cows that came up after them are seven years. And the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.

And Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise and go, you and your household, and live wherever you can live. For Jehovah has called for a famine. And it shall also come on the land seven years. And the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. And she went with her household, and lived 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 still sit here, we also shall die. And now come and let us fall to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall only die.

So says Jehovah 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, of the sojourners of Gilead, said to Ahab, As Jehovah, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except according to my word.

And Ahab said to Obadiah, Go into the land, to all fountains of water, and to all the torrents. Perhaps we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, so that we do not lose all the animals.

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

Arise, go to Zarephath which belongs to Sidon, and live there. Behold, I have commanded a widow to keep you there.

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 blight and with mildew, and with hail, in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me, says Jehovah.

I have stricken you with blasting and mildew. When your gardens and your vineyards, and your fig trees. and your olive trees increased, the creeping locust devoured them; yet you have not returned to Me, says Jehovah.

And in the fourth month, in the ninth of the month, the famine was very grievous in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

on the ninth of the fourth month, when famine was severe in the city, and there was no bread 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 Jehovah your God has given you, in the siege and in the anguish with which your enemies shall distress you.

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

Exhaustion by famine, and consumption by burning heat, and bitter destruction, and the teeth of beasts I will send on them, with the poison of crawling things of the dust.

And the seven years of plenty that was in the land of Egypt 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 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 on the land of Egypt.

I will also save you from all your defilements, and I will call for the grain, and will increase it, and will lay no famine on you. And I will multiply the fruits of the tree and the increase of the field, so that you shall never again receive the curse of famine among the nations.

And one went out into the field to gather herbs. And he found a vine of the field, and gathered gourds from it in the field. And with the lap of his garment full, he came in and shredded them into the pot of pottage. For they did not know them. And they poured out for the men to eat. And it happened as they were eating of the pottage, they cried out and said, O man of God, death is in the pot! And they could not eat.

Yea, the doe also calved in the field and forsook it, because there was no grass. And the wild asses stood in the high places; they snuffed up the wind like jackals; their eyes failed because there was no grass.

Jehovah will be frightening to them; for He will make all the gods of the earth lean; each man from his place and all the coastlands of the nations shall bow to Him.

The Word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah concerning the matter of droughts.

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

And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year. And David inquired of Jehovah. And Jehovah answered, For Saul, and for his bloody house, because he killed the Gibeonites.

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

For so says the Lord Jehovah: How much more when I send My four evil judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the destroying beast, and the plague, to cut off man and beast from it.

on the ninth of the fourth month, when famine was severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

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

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 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 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 pestilences and earthquakes in different places.

Some also said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses. Let us buy grain because of the famine.

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

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

When I shall send on them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their ruin, which I will send to destroy you; even I will increase the famine on you, and break your staff of bread;

Be ashamed, husbandmen; howl, 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 droops, the pomegranate and the palm tree, and the apple tree; all the trees of the field are dried up, because joy has dried up from the sons of men. Gird up and lament, priests; howl, ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, ministers of my God. For the food offering and the drink offering are held back from the house of your God.

And 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 care. And they shall drink water by measure, and in silence,

And He called for a famine on the land; He broke the whole staff of bread.

And Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise and go, you and your household, and live wherever you can live. For Jehovah has called for a famine. And it shall also come on the land seven years.

And the seven years of plenty that was in the land of Egypt 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 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 on the land of Egypt. And all the earth came into Egypt to buy, to Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

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. So I will return and take away My grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

And one of them named Agabus stood up and signified by the Spirit that there should be great famine over the world (which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar).

For behold, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water,

The seed is rotten under their clods; the storage bins are laid waste; the barns are broken down, for the grain has dried up.

And it happened in the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem-judah went to live 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, and you have not returned to Me, says Jehovah.

And one of them named Agabus stood up and signified by the Spirit that there should be great famine over the world (which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar).

Behold, the days come, says the Lord Jehovah, 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 Jehovah.

Though the fig tree shall not blossom, and fruit is not on the vines; the labor of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food. The flock is cut off from the fold, and no herd is in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

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

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in Heaven. For so their fathers did according to these things to the prophets.

You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in, for the locust shall eat it. You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but shall neither drink the wine nor gather, for the worm shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your coasts, but you shall not anoint with the oil, for your olive shall drop off its fruit.

And I have also withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest. And I caused rain to fall on one city and caused it not to rain on another city; one piece was rained on, and the piece on which it did not rain dried up. So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied; yet you have not returned to Me, says Jehovah. I have stricken you with blasting and mildew. When your gardens and your vineyards, and your fig trees. and your olive trees increased, the creeping locust devoured them; yet you have not returned to Me, says Jehovah.

When I have broken the staff 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 you shall eat.

And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heaven like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain. For your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the field yield their fruits.

Though the fig tree shall not blossom, and fruit is not on the vines; the labor of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food. The flock is cut off from the fold, and no herd is in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

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

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in Heaven. For so their fathers did according to these things to the prophets.

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

So Jehovah says this 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 come to you, who shall be sorry for you? Desolation, and ruin, and the famine, and the sword. By whom shall I comfort you?