Psalms 104:16
And he called a famine upon the land: and he broke in pieces all the support of bread.
Open Psalms 104:16 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et vocavit famem super terram, et omne firmamentum panis contrivit.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἐκάλεσεν λιμὸν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, πᾶν στήριγμα ἄρτου συνέτριψεν.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 105:16
- וַיִּקְרָ֣א רָ֭עָב עַל הָאָ֑רֶץ כָּֽל מַטֵּה לֶ֥חֶם שָׁבָֽר
Haydock's commentary
And. The psalmist continues to mention the favours of God, till the Israelites entered the promised land, which the author of 1 Paralipomenon xvi., passes over. (Haydock)
Bread. In time of famine, people are not strengthened with their food. (Eusebius) (Ezechiel iv. 16., and v. 16.)
God permitted, (Worthington) or caused the famine to rage.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
The Apostolic Constitutions Book VIII. Concerning Gifts, and Ordinations, and the Ecclesiastical Canons, Sec. II. Election and Ordination of Bishops: Form of Service on Sundays
Yet of Thy goodness Thou didst not overlook him, nor suffer him to perish utterly, for he was Thy creature; but Thou didst subject the whole creation to him, and didst grant him liberty to procure himself food by his own sweat and labours, whilst Thou didst cause all the fruits of the earth to spring up, to grow, and to ripen. But when Thou hadst laid him asleep for a while, Thou didst with an oath call him to a restoration again, didst loose the bond of death, and promise him life after the resurrection. And not this only; but when Thou hadst increased his posterity to an innumerable multitude, those that continued with Thee Thou didst glorify, and those who did apostatize from Thee Thou didst punish. And while Thou didst accept of the sacrifice of Abel as of an holy person, Thou didst reject the gift of Cain , the murderer of his brother, as of an abhorred wretch. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CV
10. He then beginneth to relate how it happened that they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people. “He calleth,” he saith, “for a famine upon the land: and brake all the staff of bread” ( ver. 16 ). Thus it happened that they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people. But the expressions of the holy Scriptures are not to be negligently passed by. “He called,” he saith, “for a famine upon the land;” as if famine were some person, or some animated body, or some spirit that would obey Him who called.…Under this impression the old Romans consecrated some such deities, as the goddess Fever, and the god Paleness. …
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII, Chapter XI. Whether the grace of God precedes or follows our good will
And so these are somehow mixed up and indiscriminately confused, so that among many persons, which depends on the other is involved in great questionings, i.e., does God have compassion upon us because we have shown the beginning of a good will, or does the beginning of a good will follow because God has had compassion upon us? For many believing each of these and asserting them more widely than is right are entangled in all kinds of opposite errors. …