Hebrew word · H7459

רְעָבוֹן

ra'avon

famine

Famine, hunger: a lasting shortage of food. It is a less common form of the usual word for famine, rā'āḇ.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

hunger, lack of food, famine

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 Psalm 37:19

Range of meaning

Famine, hunger: a lasting shortage of food. It is a less common form of the usual word for famine, rā'āḇ.

Against the English

English 'famine' is accurate. No drift.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Hebrew Bible it appears only in Genesis 42:19 and 42:33 (Joseph tells his brothers to carry grain 'for the famine of your households') and here. Whether the psalmist meant to echo Joseph is uncertain, but the rare word does call up that story, in which God kept a family alive through a famine.

Where it appears

Genesis · 2

  1. Genesis 42:19 רַעֲב֥וֹן [the] hunger of

    If you are honest, leave one of your brothers in custody while the rest of you go and take back grain to relieve the hunger of your households.

  2. Genesis 42:33 רַעֲב֥וֹן [the] hunger of

    Then the man who is lord of the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest: Leave one brother with me, take food to relieve the hunger of your households, and go.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 37:19 רְעָב֣וֹן famine

    In the time of evil they will not be ashamed, and in the days of famine they will be satisfied.

    Here: A rare form of the word for famine. It appears only here and in Genesis 42:19, 33, in the Joseph story, where Jacob's sons carry grain home to households starving in a famine. It refers to real, physical food shortage.

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