Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PESTILENCE

In the Bible, pestilence (Heb. deḇer, māweṯ; Gk. loimós; thánatos) usually refers to divine intervention into human history in the form of human sickness in order to punish human misbehavior. Pestilence is often associated with other calamities (e.g., Exod. 9:3-15; Lev. 26:25; Amos 4:10; Hab. 3:5; Luke 21:11). It also served as a threat to bring about correct human behavior (e.g., Num. 14:12; cf. 16:46).

Although pestilence and plague are often associated in ancient writings, some modern writers argue that this does not mean that the two are interchangeable. Scourges such as bubonic plague, cholera, dysentery, smallpox, and typhoid fever are generally described as “plagues,” while “pestilence” is most often associated with sicknesses which result from contaminated water supplies that often accompany the sieging of a city. However, some passages refer to smallpox and bubonic plague as forms of pestilence. It could very well be that antiquity did not make such a distinction between “pestilence” and “plague” (cf. Lat. pestilentia, which is related to pestis, “plague”).

Thomas B. Slater

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PESTILENCE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)