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, Psalms 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" (Proverbs 19:13); (2) disease, poverty, bereavement, as in Job's experience (Job 6:2; 30:13); (3) persecution (2 Samuel 22:19; Psalms 18:18); (4) Divine retribution and judgment (Deuteronomy 32:35); compare ruin of the wicked (Proverbs 1:26, also Proverbs 27 the Revised Version (British and American) for "destruction" the King James Version); (5) the devastation of war (Jeremiah 46:21 (6) adversities of any kind (Proverbs 27:10).

Dwight M. Pratt

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.