Topical Bible: Stomach

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Topical Encyclopedia

The stomach, as referenced in the Bible, is often associated with the physical needs and desires of the human body. It serves as a symbol of appetite, both literal and metaphorical, and is frequently used to illustrate broader spiritual truths about self-control, dependence on God, and the consequences of indulgence.

Biblical References:

1. Physical Needs and Provision:
The stomach is directly related to the basic human need for sustenance. In the context of God's provision, the Bible often highlights how God meets the needs of His people. For instance, in the wilderness, God provided manna to the Israelites, satisfying their physical hunger and teaching them reliance on Him. This is reflected in Deuteronomy 8:3 : "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."

2. Appetite and Self-Control:
The stomach is also used metaphorically to discuss the concept of appetite, which can extend beyond food to other desires. Proverbs 23:2 advises, "and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite." This verse underscores the importance of self-control and the dangers of gluttony or overindulgence, which can lead to spiritual and physical harm.

3. Spiritual Lessons:
The New Testament often uses the stomach to illustrate spiritual truths. In Philippians 3:19 , Paul warns against those "whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things." Here, the "belly" symbolizes earthly desires that can become idolatrous when they take precedence over spiritual pursuits.

4. Dependence on God:
The stomach's need for food is a reminder of human dependence on God for all things. Jesus, in teaching His disciples to pray, included the petition for daily bread (Matthew 6:11), emphasizing the need to trust God for daily provision and to recognize Him as the source of all sustenance.

5. Warnings Against Excess:
The Bible warns against the dangers of excess and the pursuit of pleasure through the stomach. In Ecclesiastes 6:7 , it is written, "All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied." This highlights the futility of seeking fulfillment solely through physical means and the importance of seeking spiritual nourishment.

Theological Implications:

The stomach, while a necessary part of human anatomy, serves as a powerful symbol in Scripture for the broader human condition. It reminds believers of the need for moderation, the dangers of idolatry through physical desires, and the ultimate satisfaction that comes from God alone. The biblical perspective encourages a balanced view of physical needs, urging believers to prioritize spiritual growth and reliance on God's provision.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n.) An enlargement, or series of enlargements, in the anterior part of the alimentary canal, in which food is digested; any cavity in which digestion takes place in an animal; a digestive cavity. See Gastric.

2. (n.) The desire for food caused by hunger; appetite; as, a good stomach for roast beef.

3. (n.) Hence appetite in general; inclination; desire.

4. (n.) Violence of temper; anger; sullenness; resentment; willful obstinacy; stubbornness.

5. (n.) Pride; haughtiness; arrogance.

6. (v. t.) To resent; to remember with anger; to dislike.

7. (v. t.) To bear without repugnance; to brook.

8. (v. i.) To be angry.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

STOMACH

stum'-uk (stomachos): In man and most vertebrates, a membranous sac-like portion of the alimentary canal, in which the earlier stages of digestion take place and in which food is prepared to yield its nourishment (1 Timothy 5:23).

Used figuratively of pride, "A proud look and high stomach" (Psalm 101:7, Prayer-book Version), and courage, "Stirring up her womanish thoughts with a manly stomach" (2 Maccabees 7:21 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "with manly passion").

Greek

4751. stomachos -- an opening, the stomach
... an opening, the stomach. Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: stomachos
Phonetic Spelling: (stom'-akh-os) Short Definition: the stomach Definition ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4751.htm - 6k

1064. gaster -- the belly
... the belly. Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: gaster Phonetic Spelling:
(gas-tare') Short Definition: the womb, stomach, to be pregnant Definition ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1064.htm - 6k

2836. koilia -- belly
... lee'-ah) Short Definition: belly, womb, the inner man Definition: belly, abdomen,
heart, a general term covering any organ in the abdomen, eg stomach, womb; met ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2836.htm - 6k

Strong's Hebrew

6896. qebah -- stomach, belly
... 6895, 6896. qebah. 6897 . stomach, belly. Transliteration: qebah Phonetic
Spelling: (kay-baw') Short Definition: body. Word Origin ...
/hebrew/6896.htm - 6k

4578. meeh -- internal organs, inward parts, belly
... 1), body (4), bowels (4), children* (1), feelings (1), heart (4), inward parts
(1), offspring* (1), own (1), soul (2), spirit (2), stomach (4), stomachs (1 ...
/hebrew/4578.htm - 6k

3770. kares -- belly
... 3769, 3770. kares. 3771 . belly. Transliteration: kares Phonetic Spelling:
(ker-ace') Short Definition: stomach. Word Origin from ...
/hebrew/3770.htm - 6k

7647. saba -- plenty, satiety
... Word Origin from saba Definition plenty, satiety NASB Word Usage abundance
(4), full stomach (1), plenty (3). abundance, plenteous,. ...
/hebrew/7647.htm - 6k

990. beten -- belly, body, womb
... 11), brothers* (1), depth (1), himself (1), infancy* (1), inward parts (1), mind
(1), parts (1), pregnancy (1), rounded projection (1), stomach (3), within (3 ...
/hebrew/990.htm - 6k

3445. yeshach -- perhaps emptiness
... casting down. From an unused root meaning to gape (as the empty stomach); hunger --
casting down. 3444, 3445. yeshach. 3446 . Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/3445.htm - 5k

Library

1 Timothy v. 21-23
... Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often
infirmities.". ... But why did not Paul restore strength to his stomach? ...
/.../homily xvi 1 timothy v.htm

With the Circus
... III "Alcohol's effects upon the stomach: "(a) Produces chronic inflammation
of the stomach. ... "(e) It thickens the mucus of the stomach. ...
/.../byrum/how john became a man/chapter viii with the circus.htm

On the Interior Man
... the Lord. [John 21:20]. The stomach is the rational capacity; in Habakkuk:
my stomach is disturbed within me. [Hab.3:16]. The kidneys ...
/.../eucherius/the formulae of st eucherius of lyons/vi on the interior man.htm

Reference to the Processes of Digestion and Nutrition.
... necessity turns out to be suitable nourishment for the animal, but that some things
no sooner come into contact with the plicatures of the stomach than they ...
/.../chapter v reference to the processes.htm

The Interpretation
... of the Church, or perhaps, of the obscurity of those allegories and types with which
it was covered, it would, like aloes taken into the stomach, greatly wound ...
//christianbookshelf.org/mede/a key to the apocalypse/the interpretation.htm

1 Cor. vi. 12
... Ver.13. "Meats for the belly." By "the belly" here he means not the stomach,
but the stomach's voraciousness. As when he says, (Philip. ...
/.../homilies on the epistles of paul to the corinthians/homily xvii 1 cor vi.htm

This HomilyWas Delivered in the Old Church of Antioch
... Chrysostom was yet a Presbyter, upon that saying of the Apostle, 1 Timothy 5:23,
"Drink a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thy often infirmities.". ...
/.../chrysostom/on the priesthood/homily i this homily was.htm

Letter x. The Preservation of Health.
... About five eighths of the food taken into the stomach passes off by insensible
perspiration, through the pores of the skin; and with it is thrown off whatever ...
/.../letter x the preservation of.htm

Tobacco.
... to wash him away. Taken into the stomach unaccustomed to its presence, and
it produces violent vomiting. The whole lining membrane ...
/.../judy/questionable amusements and worthy substitutes/i tobacco.htm

Evil Habits and Injurious Indulgences.
... He recommends wine to Timothy: "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for
thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." 1:Tim.5:23. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/orr/the gospel day /chapter xiv evil habits and.htm

Thesaurus

Stomach (40 Occurrences)
... See Gastric. 2. (n.) The desire for food caused by hunger; appetite; as, a good
stomach for roast beef. ... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. STOMACH. ...
/s/stomach.htm - 19k

Stomach's (1 Occurrence)
...Stomach's (1 Occurrence). 1 Timothy 5:23 Be no longer a drinker of water only, but
use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities. ...
/s/stomach's.htm - 6k

Vomit (12 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) To eject the contents of the stomach by
the mouth; to puke; to spew. 2. (vt) To throw up; to eject ...
/v/vomit.htm - 10k

Kinds (110 Occurrences)
... Mark 7:19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and passes
away ejected from him?" By these words Jesus pronounced all kinds of food ...
/k/kinds.htm - 36k

Wasting (57 Occurrences)
... on the woman, and say to her, May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your
people, sending on you wasting of the legs and disease of the stomach; (BBE). ...
/w/wasting.htm - 23k

Maw (2 Occurrences)
... 2. (n.) A stomach; the receptacle into which food is taken by swallowing; in birds,
the craw; -- now used only of the lower animals, except humorously or in ...
/m/maw.htm - 8k

Legs (50 Occurrences)
... on the woman, and say to her, May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your
people, sending on you wasting of the legs and disease of the stomach; (BBE). ...
/l/legs.htm - 21k

Turn (963 Occurrences)
... quickly. 10. (vt) To sicken; to nauseate; as, an emetic turns one's stomach.
11. ... brain. 19. (vi) To be nauseated; -- said of the stomach. 20. ...
/t/turn.htm - 41k

Ejected (2 Occurrences)
... Ejected (2 Occurrences). Matthew 15:17 Do you not understand that whatever enters
the mouth passes into the stomach and is afterwards ejected from the body? ...
/e/ejected.htm - 7k

Exist (24 Occurrences)
... 1 Corinthians 6:13 Food of all kinds is meant for the stomach, and the stomach
is meant for food, and God will cause both of them to perish. ...
/e/exist.htm - 14k

Resources

What does it mean to uncover nakedness in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

Is Sunday sickness a real thing? | GotQuestions.org

How should a Christian view vaccinations/vaccines? | GotQuestions.org

Stomach: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus

Concordance

Stomach (40 Occurrences)

Matthew 12:40
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
(BBE)

Matthew 15:17
Do you not understand that whatever enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is afterwards ejected from the body?
(WEY BBE NAS RSV NIV)

Mark 7:19
because it doesn't go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, thus purifying all foods?"
(WEB WEY BBE NAS RSV NIV)

Luke 15:16
He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.
(See NAS NIV)

Acts 28:8
And the father of Publius was ill, with a disease of the stomach; to whom Paul went, and put his hands on him, with prayer, and made him well.
(BBE)

1 Corinthians 6:13
Food of all kinds is meant for the stomach, and the stomach is meant for food, and God will cause both of them to perish. Yet the body does not exist for the purpose of fornication, but for the Master's service, and the Master exists for the body;
(WEY BBE NAS RSV NIV)

Philippians 3:19
Whose end is destruction, whose god is the stomach, and whose glory is in their shame, whose minds are fixed on the things of the earth.
(BBE NIV)

1 Timothy 5:23
Be no longer a drinker of water only, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Revelation 10:9
I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. He said to me, "Take it, and eat it up. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey."
(WEB BBE NAS RSV NIV)

Revelation 10:10
I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
(WEB BBE NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 1:16
And he is to take away its stomach, with its feathers, and put it down by the east side of the altar, where the burned waste is put:
(BBE)

Leviticus 11:42
Whatever goes on its stomach or on four feet or has a great number of feet, even all those going flat on the earth, may not be used for food, for they are disgusting.
(BBE)

Numbers 5:21
Then the priest will put the oath of the curse on the woman, and say to her, May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, sending on you wasting of the legs and disease of the stomach;
(BBE)

Numbers 5:22
And this water of the curse will go into your body, causing disease of your stomach and wasting of your legs: and the woman will say, So be it.
(BBE NAS)

Numbers 5:27
And it will be that if the woman has become unclean, sinning against her husband, when she has taken the bitter water it will go into her body, causing disease of the stomach and wasting of the legs, and she will be a curse among her people.
(BBE)

Numbers 25:8
And went after the man of Israel into the tent, driving the spear through the two of them, through the man of Israel and through the stomach of the woman. So the disease was stopped among the children of Israel.
(BBE)

Deuteronomy 18:3
And this is to be the priests' right: those who make an offering of a sheep or an ox are to give to the priest the top part of the leg and the two sides of the head and the stomach.
(BBE YLT NAS RSV)

Judges 3:21
And Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right side, and sent it into his stomach;
(BBE)

Judges 3:22
And the hand-part went in after the blade, and the fat was joined up over the blade; for he did not take the sword out of his stomach. And he went out into the ...
(BBE)

2 Samuel 2:23
But still he did not go to one side: so Abner gave him a back blow in the stomach with his spear, so that the spear came out at his back; and he went down on the earth, wounded to death: and all those who came to the place where Asahel went down dead, came to a stop.
(BBE NIV)

2 Samuel 3:27
And when Abner was back in Hebron, Joab took him on one side by the doorway of the town to have a word with him quietly, and there he gave him a wound in the stomach, causing his death in payment for the death of his brother Asahel.
(BBE NIV)

2 Samuel 4:6
They came there into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they struck him in the body: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
(See NIV)

2 Chronicles 21:15
And you yourself will undergo the cruel pains of a disease in your stomach, so that day by day your inside will be falling out because of the disease.
(BBE)

2 Chronicles 21:18
And after all this the Lord sent on him a disease of the stomach from which it was impossible for him to be made well.
(BBE)

Job 20:14
His food becomes bitter in his stomach; the poison of snakes is inside him.
(BBE NAS RSV NIV)

Job 20:15
He takes down wealth as food, and sends it up again; it is forced out of his stomach by God.
(BBE NIV)

Job 32:19
My stomach is like wine which is unable to get out; like skins full of new wine, it is almost burst.
(BBE)

Job 40:16
His strength is in his body, and his force in the muscles of his stomach.
(BBE)

Proverbs 13:25
The upright man has food to the full measure of his desire, but there will be no food for the stomach of evil-doers.
(BBE NAS NIV)

Proverbs 18:8
The words of one who says evil of his neighbour secretly are like sweet food, and go down into the inner parts of the stomach.
(BBE)

Proverbs 18:20
A man's stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.
(WEB BBE NAS NIV)

Proverbs 26:22
The words of one who says evil of his neighbour secretly are like sweet food, they go down into the inner parts of the stomach.
(BBE)

Ecclesiastes 5:12
The sleep of a working man is sweet, if he has little food or much; but to him who is full, sleep will not come.
(See NAS)

Song of Songs 7:2
Your stomach is a store of grain with lilies round it, and in the middle a round cup full of wine.
(BBE)

Jeremiah 30:6
Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child: why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
(See NIV)

Jeremiah 51:34
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, has made a meal of me, violently crushing me, he has made me a vessel with nothing in it, he has taken me in his mouth like a dragon, he has made his stomach full with my delicate flesh, crushing me with his teeth.
(BBE NAS NIV)

Ezekiel 3:3
And he said to me, Son of man, let your stomach make a meal of it and let your inside be full of this roll which I am giving you. Then I took it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.
(BBE NAS RSV NIV)

Jonah 1:17
Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
(See NAS)

Jonah 2:1
Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, out of the fish's belly.
(See NAS)

Micah 6:14
You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your humiliation will be in your midst. You will store up, but not save; and that which you save I will give up to the sword.
(See NIV)

Subtopics

Stomach

Related Terms

Stomach (40 Occurrences)

Offensive (15 Occurrences)

Dress (38 Occurrences)

Muck (2 Occurrences)

Stomachs (3 Occurrences)

Stink (11 Occurrences)

Girdle (44 Occurrences)

Odor (46 Occurrences)

Rent (76 Occurrences)