Bible Dictionary: Pestilence

◄ Pestilence ►

Jump to: Smith's • ATS • ISBE • Webster's • Concordance • Thesaurus • Greek • Hebrew • Library • Subtopics • Terms

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Pestilence

ATS Bible Dictionary

Pestilence

Or PLAGUE, in the Hebrew tongue, as in most others, expresses all sorts of distempers and calamitites. The Hebrew word which properly signifies "the plague" is extended to all epidemical and contagious diseases. The prophets generally connect together the sword, the pestilence, and the famine, as three evils, which usually accompany each other.

The glandular plague, which in modern times has proved so fatal in the East, is the most virulent and contagious of diseases. In the fourteenth century it overran Europe, Asia, and Africa, and 25,000,000 are estimated to have died of it within three years. Like the Asiatic cholera, it is one of the most appalling scourges sin has brought on this world; and may in this point of view correspond with the "plagues" referred to in the Bible, Exodus 9:14 11:1 1Ki 8:37.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n.) A raging epidemic; specifically, the bubonic plague; hence, any contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating.

2. (n.) Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character of great numbers.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

PESTILENCE

pes'-ti-lens (debher; loimos): Any sudden fatal epidemic is designated by this word, and in its Biblical use it generally indicates that these are divine visitations. The word is most frequently used in the prophetic books, and it occurs 25 times in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, always associated with the sword and famine. In 4 other passages it is combined with noisome or evil beasts, or war. In Amos 4:10 this judgment is compared with the plagues of Egypt, and in Habakkuk 3:5 it is a concomitant of the march of God from the Arabian mountain. There is the same judicial character associated with pestilence in Exodus 5:3; Exodus 9:15 Leviticus 26:25 Numbers 14:12 Deuteronomy 28:21 2 Samuel 24:21; 1 Chronicles 21:12 Ezekiel 14:19, 21. In the dedication prayer of Solomon, a special value is besought for such petitions against pestilence as may be presented toward the temple (2 Chronicles 6:28). Such a deliverance is promised to those who put their trust in God (Psalm 91:6). Here the pestilence is called noisome, a shortened form of "annoysome," used in the sense of "hateful" or that which causes trouble or distress. In modern English it has acquired the sense of loathsome. "Noisome" is used by Tyndale where the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) have "hurtful" in 1 Timothy 6:9. Acts 19:8 the King James Version writes "persuading the things" (the Revised Version (British and American) "as to the things") for "present the things persuasively." And in Galatians 1:10 (the English Revised Version and the King James Version, not in the American Standard Revised Version) and 2 Corinthians 5:11, there is a half-ironic force in the word: Paul's enemies have accused him of using unworthy persuasion in making his conversions.

The Latin word pestilentia is connected with pestis, "the plague," but pestilence is used of any visitation and is not the name of any special disease; debher is applied to diseases of cattle and is translated "murrain."

In the New Testament pestilence is mentioned in our Lord's eschatological discourse (Matthew 24:7 the King James Version; Luke 21:11) coupled with famine. The assonance of loimos and limos in these passages (loimos is omitted in the Revised Version (British and American) passage for Mt) occurs in several classical passages, e.g. Herodotus vii0.171. The pestilence is said to walk in darkness (Psalm 91:6) on account of its sudden onset out of obscurity not associated with any apparent cause.

Alexander Macalister

Greek

3061. loimos -- pestilence, a pest
... pestilence, a pest. Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: loimos Phonetic
Spelling: (loy'-mos) Short Definition: a pestilence Definition: (a) a ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3061.htm - 6k

2288. thanatos -- death
... Word Origin from thnesko Definition death NASB Word Usage danger of death
(1), death (112), fatal (2), pestilence (3). deadly, death. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2288.htm - 7k

4027. perikatharma -- that which is cleaned off, refuse
... all ." The Greeks used 4027 () "of criminals kept at the public expense, to be thrown
into the sea, or otherwise killed, at the outbreak of a pestilence, etc. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4027.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

1698. deber -- pestilence
... 1697, 1698. deber. 1699 . pestilence. Transliteration: deber Phonetic Spelling:
(deh'-ber) Short Definition: pestilence. Word Origin ...
/hebrew/1698.htm - 6k

4046. maggephah -- a blow, slaughter, plague, pestilence
... 4045, 4046. maggephah. 4047 . a blow, slaughter, plague, pestilence.
Transliteration: maggephah Phonetic Spelling: (mag-gay-faw') Short Definition: plague. ...
/hebrew/4046.htm - 6k

4347. makkah -- a blow, wound, slaughter
... keh'}; (plural only) from nakah; a blow (in 2 Chronicles 2:10, of the flail); by
implication, a wound; figuratively, carnage, also pestilence -- beaten, blow ...
/hebrew/4347.htm - 6k

4194. maveth -- death
... From muwth; death (natural or violent); concretely, the dead, their place or state
(hades); figuratively, pestilence, ruin -- (be) dead((-ly)), death, die(-d). ...
/hebrew/4194.htm - 6k

Library

How a Pestilence Ceased through the Intercession of King Oswald. ...
... BOOK IV CHAP. XIV. How a pestilence ceased through the intercession of
King Oswald. [681-686 AD]. IN this monastery, at that time ...
/.../bede/bedes ecclesiastical history of england/chap xiv how a pestilence.htm

The Pestilence which came Upon Them.
... Book VII. Chapter XXII."The Pestilence which came upon them. 1. After
these events a pestilential disease followed the war, and ...
/.../pamphilius/church history/chapter xxii the pestilence which came.htm

The Misfortunes which Happened in Connection with These Things, in ...
... Book IX. Chapter VIII."The Misfortunes which happened in Connection with
these Things, in Famine, Pestilence, and War. 1. The ...
/.../pamphilius/church history/chapter viii the misfortunes which happened.htm

How the East Saxons, During a Pestilence, Returned to Idolatry ...
... XXX. How the East Saxons, during a pestilence, returned to idolatry, but were soon
brought back from their error by the zeal of Bishop Jaruman. [665 AD]. ...
/.../bede/bedes ecclesiastical history of england/chap xxx how the east.htm

Of the Fourth Seal.
... near the Barbarians, born also of a Barbarian father and mother." The character
of this seal is an assemblage of sword, famine, and pestilence, raging together ...
//christianbookshelf.org/mede/a key to the apocalypse/of the fourth seal.htm

Psalm I.
... "And hath not sat in the seat of pestilence." He willed not an earthly kingdom ... For
a "pestilence" is disease widely spread, and involving all or nearly all. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/augustine/exposition on the book of psalms/psalm i.htm

Of the Establishment of Scenic Entertainments.
... The gods enjoined that games be exhibited in their honor to stay a physical pestilence;
their pontiff prohibited the theatre from being constructed, to prevent ...
/.../augustine/city of god/chapter 32 of the establishment of.htm

Of the Disasters which Vexed the Roman Republic after the ...
... waiting in some kind of calm for the return of the ambassadors who had been sent
to Athens to borrow laws, and was desolated by dreadful famine and pestilence? ...
/.../augustine/city of god/chapter 17 of the disasters which.htm

Jacob's Sister Susannah.
... 4. In August, 1664, when the pestilence raged in Holland, as she felt herself very
ill, she broke forth in these words, "If thy law were not my delight, I ...
/.../stories of boys and girls who loved the saviour/jacobs sister susannah.htm

That when David had Numbered the People, they were Punished; and ...
... three months by his enemies? or, whether God should send a pestilence and
a distemper upon the Hebrews for three days? But as he was ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 13 that when david.htm

Thesaurus

Pestilence (57 Occurrences)
... 2. (n.) Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character
of great numbers. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. PESTILENCE. ...
/p/pestilence.htm - 31k

Blasting (4 Occurrences)
... drive it off. Sometimes this wind is a double pestilence, when it brings
with it a cloud of locusts (2 Chronicles 6:28). The writer ...
/b/blasting.htm - 10k

Noisome (7 Occurrences)
... of "evil," "hurtful," not of "offensive" or "loathsome." It is the translation of
hawwah, "mischief," "calamity" (Psalm 91:3, "noisome pestilence," the Revised ...
/n/noisome.htm - 9k

Locusts (33 Occurrences)
... 1 Kings 8:37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be
blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the ...
/l/locusts.htm - 16k

Besiege (17 Occurrences)
... 1 Kings 8:37 "If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is
blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the ...
/b/besiege.htm - 12k

Babylonians (48 Occurrences)
... Jeremiah 21:9 He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine,
and by the pestilence; but he who goes out, and passes over to the ...
/b/babylonians.htm - 22k

Bloodshed (43 Occurrences)
... Ezekiel 5:17 And I have sent on you famine and evil beasts, And they have bereaved
thee, And pestilence and blood pass over on thee, And a sword I do bring in ...
/b/bloodshed.htm - 19k

Famine (99 Occurrences)
... of insects (Exodus 10:15 Joel 1:4) and by enemies (Deuteronomy 28:51); in a city
a famine might be caused by a siege (2 Kings 6:25); pestilence often followed ...
/f/famine.htm - 49k

Chalde'ans (74 Occurrences)
... Jeremiah 21:9 Whoso is abiding in this city -- dieth, By sword, and by famine, and
by pestilence, And whoso is going forth, And hath fallen unto the Chaldeans ...
/c/chalde'ans.htm - 29k

Grasshopper (12 Occurrences)
... 1 Kings 8:37 "If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is
blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the ...
/g/grasshopper.htm - 12k

Bible Concordance

Pestilence (57 Occurrences)

Luke 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
(Root in KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV NIV)

Acts 24:5 for having found this man a pestilence, and moving a dissension to all the Jews through the world -- a ringleader also of the sect of the Nazarenes --
(YLT)

Revelation 2:23 I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
(See NAS)

Revelation 6:8 I looked and a pale-colored horse appeared. Its rider's name was Death, and Hades came close behind him; and authority was given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword or with famine or pestilence or by means of the wild beasts of the earth.
(WEY NAS RSV)

Revelation 18:8 Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.
(See NAS RSV)

Exodus 5:3 They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Yahweh, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword."
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Exodus 9:3 behold, the hand of Yahweh is on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks with a very grievous pestilence.
(WEB YLT NAS)

Exodus 9:15 For now I would have put forth my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Leviticus 26:25 I will bring a sword upon you, that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; and you will be gathered together within your cities: and I will send the pestilence among you; and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Numbers 14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Deuteronomy 28:21 Yahweh will make the pestilence cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land, where you go in to possess it.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Deuteronomy 32:24 They shall be consumed with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, And with poisonous pestilence; And the teeth of beasts will I send against them, With the poison of what crawleth in the dust.
(DBY RSV NIV)

2 Samuel 24:13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me."
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

2 Samuel 24:15 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

1 Kings 8:37 "If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

1 Chronicles 21:12 either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

1 Chronicles 21:14 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

2 Chronicles 6:28 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there be;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

2 Chronicles 7:13 If I shut up the sky so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

2 Chronicles 20:9 If evil come on us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, (for your name is in this house), and cry to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Job 27:15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death, And his widows shall make no lamentation.
(See JPS RSV)

Psalms 78:50 He made a path for his anger. He didn't spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence,
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT)

Psalms 91:3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Psalms 91:6 nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Jeremiah 14:12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 15:2 It shall happen, when they tell you, Where shall we go forth? Then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.
(See RSV)

Jeremiah 18:21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, and their young men struck of the sword in battle.
(See RSV)

Jeremiah 21:6 I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and animal: they shall die of a great pestilence.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 21:7 Afterward, says Yahweh, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life: and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 21:9 He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes out, and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 24:10 I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 27:8 It shall happen, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says Yahweh, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 27:13 Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 28:8 The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 29:17 thus says Yahweh of Armies; Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can't be eaten, they are so bad.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 29:18 I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 32:24 Behold, the mounds, they are come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence; and what you have spoken has happened; and behold, you see it.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 32:36 Now therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city, about which you say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence:
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 34:17 Therefore thus says Yahweh: you have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says Yahweh, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 38:2 Thus says Yahweh, He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey, and he shall live.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 42:17 So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there: they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring on them.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 42:22 Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where you desire to go to sojourn there.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 43:11 He shall come, and shall strike the land of Egypt; such as are for death shall be given to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword.
(See RSV)

Jeremiah 44:13 For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Ezekiel 5:12 A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you; and a third part shall fall by the sword around you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Ezekiel 5:17 and I will send on you famine and evil animals, and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword on you: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Ezekiel 6:11 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas! because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Ezekiel 6:12 He who is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he who is near shall fall by the sword; and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath on them.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Ezekiel 7:15 The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within: he who is in the field shall die with the sword: and he who is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Ezekiel 12:16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they come; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Ezekiel 14:19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and animal;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Ezekiel 14:21 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: How much more when I send my four sore judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil animals, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and animal!
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Ezekiel 28:23 For I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her, with the sword on her on every side; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Ezekiel 33:27 You shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword; and him who is in the open field will I give to the animals to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Ezekiel 38:22 With pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him, and on his hordes, and on the many peoples who are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and sulfur.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Amos 4:10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
(KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Habakkuk 3:5 Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Subtopics

Pestilence

Pestilence: Sent As a Judgment

Related Terms

Blasting (4 Occurrences)

Noisome (7 Occurrences)

Locusts (33 Occurrences)

Besiege (17 Occurrences)

Babylonians (48 Occurrences)

Bloodshed (43 Occurrences)

Famine (99 Occurrences)