H7459 H7459
hunger, famine, severe lack of food
This noun designates serious food shortage or famine conditions. Genesis uses it for the hunger afflicting Jacob's household during the Egyptian famine, while the Psalms employ it to contrast righteous provision with scarcity. The term emphasizes sustained deprivation rather than momentary appetite, representing life-threatening lack of sustenance that drives people to desperate measures like migration to Egypt.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The word refers to severe hunger or famine-level scarcity. In Genesis 42:19 and 33, Joseph commands his brothers to take grain back 'for the hunger of your households'—the famine conditions driving their repeated trips to Egypt for survival. Psalm 37:19 promises the righteous will be satisfied 'in days of famine,' using the term for times when food scarcity threatens life. Unlike ordinary hunger, this suggests critical shortage that endangers families and forces major decisions like foreign migration. 3×
AR["المَجاعَةِ", "جُوعَ", "لِ-جُوعِ"]·ben["ক্ষুধার", "দুর্ভিক্ষের"]·DE["Hungersnot", "für-den-Hunger"]·EN["famine", "hunger-of"]·FR["faim-de", "famine"]·heb["רעבון"]·HI["अकाल-के", "भूख-के-लिए"]·ID["kelaparan"]·IT["[רעבון]", "hunger-di"]·jav["keluwen", "paceklik"]·KO["굶주림의", "기근-의"]·PT["fome", "fome-de"]·RU["голода"]·ES["hambre", "hambre-de"]·SW["la-njaa", "njaa", "ya-maneno"]·TR["açlığı-için", "kıtlığın"]·urd["بھوک", "قحط-کے"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† רְעָבוֹן n.[m.] hunger, lack of food, famine;—cstr. רַעֲבוֹן בָּֽתֵּיכֶם Gn 42:19, 33 (E); abs. בִּימֵי רְעָבוֹן ψ 37:19.