What does λιμός (limós) mean in the Bible?
λιμός (limós): Famine or acute food scarcity, not mere hunger; often apocalyptic sign of God's judgment or end-times upheaval.
Greek · G3042
λιμός
A scarcity of food
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λιμός G3042
Pronunciation limós
What does λιμός (limós) mean in the Bible?
λιμός (limós): Famine or acute food scarcity, not mere hunger; often apocalyptic sign of God's judgment or end-times upheaval.
Full entry for λιμός (G3042) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3042?
The BSB source-word alignment has 12 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include famine (7), famines (3), hunger (1), starving (1).
Where does λιμός (limós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 24:7. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (4), Acts (2), Revelation (2), 2 Corinthians (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It famine 7× Luke 4:25, Luke 15:14, Acts 7:11, Acts 11:28
famines 3× Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8, Luke 21:11
hunger 1× 2 Corinthians 11:27
starving 1× Luke 15:17
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 24:7 λιμοὶ to famines Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural Mark 13:8 λιμοί to famines Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural Luke 4:25 λιμὸς to famine Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Luke 15:14 λιμὸς to famine Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Luke 15:17 λιμῷ to starving Noun - Dative Feminine Singular Luke 21:11 λιμοὶ* to famines Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural Acts 7:11 λιμὸς to famine Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 11:28 λιμὸν to famine Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Romans 8:35 λιμὸς to famine Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular 2 Corinthians 11:27 λιμῷ to hunger Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 24:7
Aligned rows 12
Books represented 7
Matthew 1 Mark 1 Luke 4 Acts 2 Romans 1 2 Corinthians 1 Revelation 2
Source forms
λιμὸς 4x limos Luke 4:25, Luke 15:14, Acts 7:11, Romans 8:35
λιμῷ 3x limō Luke 15:17, 2 Corinthians 11:27, Revelation 6:8
λιμοί 1x limoi Mark 13:8
λιμοὶ 1x limoi Matthew 24:7
λιμοὶ* 1x limoi Luke 21:11
λιμὸν 1x limon Acts 11:28
λιμός 1x limos Revelation 18:8
Parsing patterns
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular 4x Luke 4:25, Acts 7:11, Romans 8:35, Revelation 18:8
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular 2x 2 Corinthians 11:27, Revelation 6:8
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural 2x Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 1x Acts 11:28
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular 1x Luke 15:17
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 1x Luke 15:14
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x Luke 21:11
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Famine or acute food scarcity, not mere hunger; often apocalyptic sign of God's judgment or end-times upheaval.
Strong's G3042
Lexical occurrences 12 verses Greek text appearances 12 times Word forms 6 forms 12 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Jeremiah 16:1-4 Source Gloss
a scarcity of food
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
12 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 24:7 Noun Nominative Plural Masculine
λιμοὶ limoi
a famine, hunger
Read verse Mark 13:8 Noun Nominative Plural Masculine
λιμοὶ limoi
a famine, hunger
Read verse Luke 4:25 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
λιμὸς limov
a famine, hunger
Read verse Luke 15:14 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
λιμὸς limov
a famine, hunger
Read verse Luke 15:17 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
λιμῷ limw
a famine, hunger
Read verse Luke 21:11 Noun Nominative Plural Masculine
λιμοὶ limoi
a famine, hunger
Read verse Acts 7:11 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
λιμὸς limov
a famine, hunger
Read verse Acts 11:28 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
λιμὸν limon
a famine, hunger
Read verse Romans 8:35 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
λιμός, limov
a famine, hunger
Read verse 2 Corinthians 11:27 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
λιμῷ limw
a famine, hunger
Read verse Revelation 6:8 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
λιμῷ limw
a famine, hunger
Read verse Revelation 18:8 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
λιμός, limov
a famine, hunger
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 6 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 6 Aligned forms 12 Case pattern Nominative (8) Number pattern Singular (9)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Luke 4:25 · Acts 7:11 · Rom 8:35 · Rev 18:8 4×
Nominative · Plural · Masculine Matt 24:7 · Mark 13:8 · Luke 21:11 3×
Nominative · Singular · Feminine Luke 15:14 1×
Dative · Singular · Masculine 2 Cor 11:27 · Rev 6:8 2×
Dative · Singular · Feminine Luke 15:17 1×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Acts 11:28 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Divine judgment bringing death through famine and pestilence upon inhabitants
Eschatological threat of famine as punishment alongside sword and pestilence
Severe hunger and material deprivation driving the prodigal son to desperation
Threatened scarcity of food as divine consequence for disobedience and rebellion
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 12 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
λιμός is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain