Behold, the days pass, says the Lord, and I will send a famine on the earth: not a famine of bread, nor of thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord. (Am 8,11)
הִנֵּ֣ה ׀ יָמִ֣ים בָּאִ֗ים נְאֻם֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֔ה וְהִשְׁלַחְתִּ֥י רָעָ֖ב בָּאָ֑רֶץ לֹֽא־רָעָ֤ב לַלֶּ֨חֶם֙ וְלֹֽא־צָמָ֣א לַמַּ֔יִם כִּ֣י אִם־לִשְׁמֹ֔עַ אֵ֖ת דִּבְרֵ֥י יְהוָֽה׃
Ecce dies veniunt, dicet Dominus: et mittam famem in terram: non famem panis, neque sitim aquæ, sed audiendi verbum Domini.
ἰδοὺ ἡμέραι ἔρχονται, λέγει κύριος, καὶ ἐξαποστελῶ λιμὸν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, οὐ λιμὸν ἄρτου οὐδὲ δίψαν ὕδατος, ἀλλὰ λιμὸν τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι λόγον κυρίου·
It’s common for Hebrew nouns to come from a verb root. It’s the same this time. Hunger, or רָעָב comes from the verb “to be hungry” רָעֵב [râ‘êḇ]. The prophet Amos compares the experience of physical hunger for bread and thirst for water with the hunger for the Word of God. This famine will be provoked by God. This is the sad and disturbing fruit of failure to heed the prophetic admonitions. There will come days when they will seek the words of the Lord and will not find them. They will remain in insatiable hunger.
From a certain point of view, this is a blessed hunger, because it makes me check what I eat. Sometimes it happens that this desire for the Word of God dies when we stop faithfully listening to what God says. Then the Lord himself sends the desire for food that is real and satisfies not the stomach but the heart.
