In the Bible, particularly in the King James Version (KJV), famine refers to a severe shortage of food, often seen as a divine judgment or a consequence of disobedience to God. It symbolizes spiritual barrenness and the consequences of sin, as seen in instances like the famines during the times of Abraham (Genesis 12:10) and Joseph (Genesis 41).
Scripture
53 The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end.
54 Then the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
55 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”
56 So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
57 Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.
Famine Meaning in the Bible (KJV)
In the Bible, particularly in the King James Version (KJV), famine serves as a profound representation not only of physical scarcity but of spiritual implications as well. Famines often signify a period of divine judgment or a consequence arising from human disobedience to God’s commandments. For instance, in Genesis 12:10, Abraham is noted to have faced famine in Egypt, which leads to significant developments in his faith journey and reliance on God. Likewise, in Genesis 41, the famine foretold through Joseph’s dreams emphasizes God’s sovereignty and the necessity for reliance on divine provision, implying that earthly scarcity makes evident spiritual needs and dependence on God’s grace.
Moreover, famines in the Bible convey deeper messages about the need for repentance and a return to covenant faithfulness. In the prophetic texts, such as in Amos 8:11, God promises a famine not of bread or thirst but of hearing the words of the Lord, highlighting how spiritual deprivation can parallel physical hunger. This metaphor illustrates the dire consequences of turning away from God, showcasing that true sustenance comes from His word and fellowship. Ultimately, famine in the KJV Bible fosters a dual understanding of need — both for physical nourishment and, more critically, for spiritual fulfillment, encouraging believers to seek restoration in their relationship with God amid life’s hardships.
The theme of famine appears recurrently throughout the Scriptures, often interwoven with narratives of divine providence, judgment, and the call to repentance. In the book of Ruth, famine is the catalyst that drives Elimelech’s family to leave Bethlehem—literally meaning “house of bread”—for Moab, a foreign land. This act of seeking sustenance away from the land promised to them signifies not merely a physical need but also a deviation from God’s intended path for His people. The eventual return of Naomi and Ruth to Bethlehem, coupled with the climatic barley harvest, reveals a profound truth: God’s provision awaits those who turn back to Him, symbolizing hope and restoration even in barren times.
Moreover, in the accounts of the prophets, famine frequently serves as an instrument of divine communication. During the time of Elijah, the land faced severe drought and famine as a result of the people’s idolatry. The narrative exemplifies how God uses famine as both a punishment for disobedience and a means of drawing people back to Himself. The story of the widow at Zarephath, where God sustains her during the drought through miraculous provision, serves as a reminder of God’s ability to care for those who remain faithful even in dire circumstances. In all these instances, famine reflects the multifaceted nature of human experience: it challenges believers to confront their reliance on God, compels them to examine their faithfulness, and invariably calls them back to the source of true sustenance—spiritual nourishment found in God alone.
Spiritual Hunger and Thirst
In the Bible, famine often symbolizes a deep spiritual hunger and thirst for God’s word and presence. Just as physical famine leads to a lack of sustenance, spiritual famine reflects a deficiency in spiritual nourishment. This concept emphasizes the importance of seeking God and His teachings to fulfill the soul’s needs, highlighting the idea that true sustenance comes from a relationship with the divine.
Judgment and Consequences
Famine can also represent divine judgment or consequences for disobedience and sin. Throughout biblical narratives, periods of famine are frequently associated with the people’s failure to follow God’s commandments. This serves as a reminder of the repercussions of turning away from God and the need for repentance and restoration to avoid such dire circumstances.
Testing of Faith
Famine in the Bible can signify a testing of faith and reliance on God. During times of scarcity, individuals and communities are often challenged to trust in God’s provision and sovereignty. These trials can lead to spiritual growth and a deeper understanding of God’s faithfulness, as believers learn to depend on Him in their times of need.
How to Embrace Divine Judgment and Strengthen Your Faith
Embracing divine judgment can feel daunting, but it’s essential for deepening your faith and understanding of God’s love. Remember, judgment isn’t just about punishment; it’s also about correction and guidance. When you face challenges or feel the weight of your shortcomings, take a moment to reflect on how these experiences can draw you closer to God. Instead of viewing judgment as a harsh critique, see it as an opportunity for growth and transformation. Engage in prayer and scripture study, asking God to reveal areas in your life that need His light. Surround yourself with a community of believers who can support you in this journey, sharing their own experiences of grace and redemption. By embracing divine judgment with an open heart, you’ll find that it not only strengthens your faith but also deepens your relationship with the One who loves you unconditionally.
Bible References to Famine in the KJV:
Genesis 47:13-26: 13 Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.
14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
15 And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.”
16 And Joseph collected all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. Thus he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.
18 And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land.
19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s.
21 And as for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other.
22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.
23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.”
24 And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.”
25 So they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.”
26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.
Ruth 1:1-5: 1 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
2 The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there.
3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.
4 They took Moabite wives, the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years.
5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
2 Samuel 21:1-14: 1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)
3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?”
4 Then the Gibeonites said to him, “We have no concern of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?”
5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel,
6 let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”
7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
9 and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. And they were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.
10 Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens.
11 And when David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done,
12 he went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa.
13 And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.
14 And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.
1 Kings 17:1-16: 1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
2 And the word of the Lord came to him:
3 “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.”
4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.
5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan.
6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
7 And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him,
9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.”
11 And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.”
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.
14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’”
15 She went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days.
16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
2 Kings 6:24-33: 24 Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria.
25 And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.
26 Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”
27 And he said, “If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?”
28 And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
29 So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”
30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body.
31 Then he said, “God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”
32 Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”
33 And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and the king said, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”
2 Kings 7:1-20: 7 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”
2 Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
3 Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate.
4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.”
5 And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there.
6 For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.”
7 So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.
8 And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them.
9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household.”
10 So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied and the donkeys tied and the tents as they were.”
11 Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told within the king’s household.
12 And the king rose in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. So they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.’”
13 And one of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, seeing that those who are left here will fare like the whole multitude of Israel who have already perished. Let us send and see.”
14 So they took two horsemen, and the king sent them after the army of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see.”
15 They went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all the way was littered with garments and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king.
16 So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.
17 Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said when the king came down to him.
18 And it happened just as the man of God had said to the king: “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, at this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.”
19 The officer had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?” And he had said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
20 And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.
Jeremiah 14:1-10: 1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
2 “Judah mourns, and her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.”
3 Their nobles send their servants for water;
they come to the cisterns;
they find no water;
they return with their vessels empty;
they are ashamed and confounded
and cover their heads.
4 Because of the ground that is dismayed, since there is no rain on the land, the farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.
5 Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass.
6 The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no vegetation.
7 “Though our iniquities testify against us,
act, O Lord, for your name’s sake;
for our backslidings are many;
we have sinned against you.
8 O you hope of Israel,
its savior in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why should you be like a man confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot save? Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us.”
10 Thus says the Lord concerning this people: “They have loved to wander thus; they have not restrained their feet; therefore the Lord does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.”
Ezekiel 5:12-17: 12 A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.
13 “Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that I am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—when I spend my fury upon them.”
19 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations.”
15 “So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations all around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and with furious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken—.”
16 when I send against you the deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon you and break your supply of bread.
17 Moreover, I will send on you famine and wild beasts, and they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”
Ezekiel 14:12-23: 12 And the word of the Lord came to me:
13 “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast,”
14 even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God.
15 “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts,”
16 even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God.
17 Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast,
18 Though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.
19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast,
20 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.
21 “For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!”
22 But behold, some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it.
23 And they shall console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord God.”
Joel 1:10-20: 10 The fields are destroyed, the ground mourns, because the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes.
11 Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries up; the fig tree languishes. The pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up, and gladness dries up from the children of man.
13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up.
18 How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer.
19 To you, O Lord, I call. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field pant for you because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Amos 8:11-14: 11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”
12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
but they shall not find it.
13 “In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst.”
14 Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives,’ they shall fall, and never rise again.”
Matthew 24:6-8: 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
Luke 4:25-26: 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land,
26 And Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
Acts 11:27-30: 27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius).
29 So the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.
30 This they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
Revelation 6:5-8: 5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand.
6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”
7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”
8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.
Reverend Ogunlade is a seasoned Church Minister with over three decades of experience in guiding and nurturing congregations. With profound wisdom and a serene approach, Reverend Ogunlade has carried out various pastoral duties, including delivering uplifting sermons, conducting religious ceremonies, and offering sage counsel to individuals seeking spiritual guidance. Their commitment to fostering harmony and righteousness within their community is exemplified through their compassionate nature, making them a beloved and trusted figure among the congregation.