Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.
Parallel translations
- WEB He called for a famine on the land. He destroyed the food supplies.
- BSB He called down famine on the land and cut off all their supplies of food.
- NKJV Moreover He called for a famine in the land; He destroyed all the provision of bread.
- NASB ¶And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread.
- NLT He called for a famine on the land of Canaan, cutting off its food supply.
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 Himself summoned a famine on the land, cutting off its food. It matters because even disaster serves His larger redemptive plan.
Overview
This recalls the famine that drove Jacob's family toward Egypt (Genesis 41-42). The psalmist presents the famine as God's deliberate act, governing history down to the food supply. What looked like calamity was the means by which God preserved His people, foreshadowing how He works all things, even hardship, for the salvation of His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- 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:
- 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.
- Gen 41:54And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
- 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.
- Acts 7:11Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
- 2 Kgs 8:1Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.
- Gen 47:13And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
- Ps 104:15And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.
- Hag 1:10–11Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
- Amos 3:6Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
- Gen 47:19Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.
- Matt 8:8–9The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
- Gen 42:5–6And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
- Amos 7:1–4Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.
- Hag 2:17I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD.
- Rev 6:8And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
- Gen 41:25–32And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 105:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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