Hebrew word · H7456

רָעֵב

ra'ev

be hungry

To hunger and to thirst: literal lack of food and water, and by extension a longing (Amos 8:11; Ps 42:2). Together they stand for deprivation, siege and famine.

Appears 13 times in 13 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be hungry, be voracious

1a) (Qal) to be hungry

1b) (Hiphil) to allow one to be hungry, allow to hunger

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 65:13

Range of meaning

To hunger and to thirst: literal lack of food and water, and by extension a longing (Amos 8:11; Ps 42:2). Together they stand for deprivation, siege and famine.

Against the English

'Go hungry / thirsty' is right. To modern readers 'hungry' can sound like a mild appetite; here it means real want.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 28:47–48 is the closest parallel: 'because you did not serve YHWH your God with joy... you will serve your enemies in hunger and in thirst'. Isa 49:10 the redeemed 'will not hunger or thirst'; Isa 55:1–2 the invitation to 'come, buy and eat... why spend money on what is not bread?'

From the study of Psalm 50:12

Range of meaning

To be hungry, to suffer hunger, to be famished. Used of individuals (Prov 25:21, 'if your enemy is hungry'), of whole populations in famine (Gen 41:55), and figuratively of craving. A related noun (rāʿāv) means famine.

Against the English

English 'hungry' is accurate. The force lies in using such a bodily, creaturely word of God at all. The psalm deliberately voices the most literal form of the idea that the deity eats.

Used elsewhere in the period

In ancient Near Eastern myth, gods really do go hungry when offerings stop. In the Babylonian flood story Atrahasis, the gods suffer hunger and thirst while humanity is drowned and the offerings cease. In Gilgamesh Tablet XI, when Utnapishtim sacrifices after the flood, 'the gods smelled the sweet savour, the gods gathered like flies over the sacrificer.' The LXX translates with πεινάω, the normal Greek word for hunger.

From the study of Proverbs 19:15

Range of meaning

To be hungry, to suffer hunger, to go without food. The word family includes rāʿāḇ, 'famine', the great threat of life in ancient Israel (Genesis 12:10; 41; Ruth 1:1).

Against the English

'Suffer hunger' and 'go hungry' are both accurate. Nothing is lost here.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 10:3: 'The LORD will not let the righteous go hungry.' Proverbs 25:21: 'If your enemy is hungry, give him bread.' In Psalm 34:10 young lions 'suffer want and hunger', but those who seek the LORD lack nothing.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 41:55 וַתִּרְעַב֙ and it was hungry

    When extreme hunger came to all the land of Egypt and the people cried out to Pharaoh for food, he told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 8:3 וַיַּרְעִבֶךָ֒ and he caused to hunger you

    He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

    Here: "And he made you hungry." The causative form (Hiphil) makes God the active cause of the hunger. It was not just something he allowed. The hunger was part of the lesson.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 34:10 וְרָעֵ֑בוּ and they are hungry

    Young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

    Here: "And they go hungry." This makes the want concrete. The lack in view is real food, not something abstract. The first half of the verse ends here.

  2. Psalm 50:12 אֶ֭רְעַב I will be hungry

    If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof.

    Here: 'I should be hungry.' The everyday word for physical hunger, the same word used of people in famine. God takes the crude idea of a hungry deity and states it in plain bodily terms so he can reject it.

Proverbs · 3

  1. Proverbs 6:30 יִרְעָֽב׃ he will be hungry

    Men do not despise the thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger.

  2. Proverbs 10:3 יַרְעִ֣יב he allows to hunger

    The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but He denies the craving of the wicked.

    Here: The causative form of 'be hungry': 'make or let someone go hungry'. The tense describes what normally and always happens, a general rule rather than a one-time event. The only other place this causative form appears is Deuteronomy 8:3, where God *did* let Israel hunger in the wilderness so they could be fed with manna.

  3. Proverbs 19:15 תִרְעָֽב׃ he will be hungry

    Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.

    Here: Plain physical hunger, the word family behind 'famine'. The verb points forward ('will go hungry'), so it states where slackness ends up.

Isaiah · 5

  1. Isaiah 8:21 יִרְעַ֜ב it will be hungry

    They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.

    Here: The verb from the same root as 'hungry' a moment earlier. The repetition hammers the point: hunger is what sets off the rage.

  2. Isaiah 9:20 וְרָעֵ֔ב and it was hungry

    They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.

    Here: 'And he is (still) hungry.' The hunger goes on while he is carving. Seizing food does not ease it.

  3. Isaiah 44:12 רָעֵב֙ he is hungry

    The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.

  4. Isaiah 49:10 יִרְעָ֙בוּ֙ they will be hungry

    They will not hunger or thirst, nor will scorching heat or sun beat down on them. For He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

    Here: 'They will be hungry.' Joined to the negative it makes a promise about the future: the returning exiles will not go hungry on the road. It picks up verse 9, where they graze like a flock along the way.

  5. Isaiah 65:13 תִּרְעָ֔בוּ you will be hungry

    Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.

    Here: 'Will go hungry': real lack of food, the famine curse of the covenant (Deut 28:48).

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 42:14 נִרְעָ֖ב we will be hungry

    and if you say, ‘No, but we will go to the land of Egypt and live there, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram’s horn or hunger for bread,’

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.