The seven thin cows which came up later and the seven thin heads of grain scorched by the desert wind are seven years of famine.

and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every other country, but there was food throughout Egypt.

Gad went to him, told him what the LORD had said, and asked, "Which is it to be? Three years of famine in your land or three months of running away from your enemies or three days of an epidemic in your land? Now think it over, and tell me what answer to take back to the LORD."

A prophet named Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to King Ahab, "In the name of the LORD, the living God of Israel, whom I serve, I tell you that there will be no dew or rain for the next two or three years until I say so."

Now Elisha had told the woman who lived in Shunem, whose son he had brought back to life, that the LORD was sending a famine on the land, which would last for seven years, and that she should leave with her family and go and live somewhere else.

Listen to me: it is true that there were many widows in Israel during the time of Elijah, when there was no rain for three and a half years and a severe famine spread throughout the whole land.

Elijah was the same kind of person as we are. He prayed earnestly that there would be no rain, and no rain fell on the land for three and a half years.

but no one would have known it, because they looked just as bad as before. Then I woke up.

He said, "God has made me forget all my sufferings and all my father's family"; so he named his first son Manasseh.

Let them drink and forget their poverty and unhappiness.

Anyone in the land who asks for a blessing will ask to be blessed by the faithful God. Whoever takes an oath will swear by the name of the faithful God. The troubles of the past will be gone and forgotten."

The famine was so severe that there was no food anywhere, and the people of Egypt and Canaan became weak with hunger.

The LORD sent famine to their country and took away all their food.