Calamity

CALAMITY [ISBE]

CALAMITY - ka-lam'-i-ti ('edh, "a load" or "burden" under which one is crushed, hence, "misfortune"; hayyah, hawwah, "fall," "ruin," the latter word used only in the plural; ra`, "evil in essence" hence, "adversity," once only, Ps 141:5, the Revised Version (British and American) "wickedness"): Purely an Old Testament term, signifying adversities--natural, but more often those that result from wickedness or moral evil. Various kinds: (1) folly, "a foolish son" (Prov 19:13); (2) disease, poverty, bereavement, as in Job's experience (Job 6:2; 30:13); (3) persecution (2 Sam 22:19; Ps 18:18); (4) Divine retribution and judgment (Dt 32:35); compare ruin of the wicked (Prov 1:26, also 27 the Revised Version (British and American) for "destruction" the King James Version); (5) the devastation of war (Jer 46:21 (6) adversities of any kind (Prov 27:10).

Dwight M. Pratt