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" (Pr 19:13);

(2) disease, poverty, bereavement, as in Job's experience (Job 6:2; 30:13);

(3) persecution (2Sa 22:19; Ps 18:18);

(4) Divine retribution and judgment (De 32:35); compare ruin of the wicked (Pr 1:26, also Pr 1:27 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 (Pr 27:10).

Dwight M. Pratt

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