When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
Parallel translations
- WEB when I send on them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. I will increase the famine on you, and will break your staff of bread.
- BSB When I shower you with the deadly arrows of famine and destruction that I will send to destroy you, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of food.
- NKJV When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread.
- NASB When I send against them the deadly arrows of famine which were for the destruction of those whom I will send to destroy you, then I will also intensify the famine upon you and break off your provision of bread.
- NLT “I will shower you with the deadly arrows of famine to destroy you. The famine will become more and more severe until every crumb of food is gone.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God will send the deadly arrows of famine to destroy and break the staff of bread. Hunger is depicted as God's aimed weapon of judgment.
Overview
The Lord describes famine as arrows He fires deliberately, intensifying it until the support of bread is shattered. The military image shows that even natural disasters serve God's just purposes. This sobering picture of God's sovereignty over scarcity calls people to seek the One who alone can supply true and lasting bread.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ezek 4:16Moreover he said unto 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 with astonishment:
- Deut 32:23–24I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
- 2 Kgs 6:25And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.
- Lev 26:26And 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 ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
- Ps 91:5–7Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
- Lam 3:12He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
- Isa 3:1For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water.
- Ps 7:13He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
- Ezek 14:13Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:
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Original language
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