There is perhaps no better prophet to look to in focusing on the split between faithful priests who serve the flock and the selfish shepherds (the false prophets) who exploit the sheep and ridicule the faithful. So, it is not a surprise to have a plethora of warnings regarding plague, pestilence and famine in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. The following quotes are a bit repetitious but that is fully appropriate, as the LORD gave them many warnings, ordering clearly that they surrender to the King of Babylon or be subjected to the sword, plague and famine; but the people refused, led astray by the “prophecy” of all but Jeremiah whom they derided. Are not the false prophets reminiscent of the Catholic Church Prelates of today who publicly lead the people astray when they aver that God does not send plague and pestilence? Who else but God has this much power over the entire earth at the same time, who can unleash it (let it be unleashed) or stop it up? Is there any basis to think that famine will not follow such a pandemic?
“They [the false prophets] have spoken falsely of the LORD, and have said, ‘He will do nothing; no evil will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.”
“… therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them; the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; ….'”
“Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.” Then I said: ‘Ah, Lord GOD, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place’.'” … “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My Name although I did not send them, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come on this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.’ And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them–them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them.'”
“If I go out into the field, behold, those slain by the sword! And if I enter the city, behold, the diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land, and have no knowledge.”
“And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: ‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity.”‘
“They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.”
“Therefore deliver up their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword, let their wives become childless and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be slain by the sword in battle.”
Jer 21:6-7 “And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. Afterward, says the LORD, I will give Zedeki’ah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrez’zar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not pity them, or spare them, or have compassion.”
He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chalde’ans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war.”
“And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their fathers.”
“But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnez’zar king of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, says the LORD, until I have consumed it by his hand.”
“Why will you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the LORD has spoken concerning any nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?”
“The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms.”
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them’, ….”
“Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chalde’ans who are fighting against it. What thou didst speak has come to pass, and behold, thou seest it.”
“Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence‘: ….”
“Therefore, thus says the LORD: You have not obeyed Me by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; behold, I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, says the LORD. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.”
“Thus says the LORD, He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out to the Chalde’ans shall live; he shall have his life as a prize of war, and live.”
“… then the sword which you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow hard after you to Egypt; and there you shall die.”
“All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; they shall have no remnant or survivor from the evil which I will bring upon them.”
“Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live.”
“He shall come and smite the land of Egypt, giving to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword.”
“I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall be consumed; from the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine; and they shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, ….”
“But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven [an idol] and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”
“Behold, I am watching over them for evil and not for good; all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them.”
“On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city, that there was no food for the people of the land.”
Where is Isaiah?
The reader may have been surprised not to find Isaiah’s quotes ahead of Jeremiah’s, given their relative placement in the bible. But Isaiah, for a very long book, has only two famine verses and none for plague or pestilence. The translation being used in these posts is the RSV; it may be that other translations would choose different vocabulary.
And the first-born of the poor will feed, and the needy lie down in safety; but I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant I will slay.
These two things have befallen you–who will condole with you?–devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you?
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