Dictionary of Bible Themes » 4000 Creation » 4800 Natural and supernatural phenomena » 4819 dryness
A lack of moisture, often due to lack of rain or a period of drought, leading to vegetation drying up. Dryness is often used as a symbol of hopelessness or of the absence of God's blessing.
The dryness of river beds
Evaporation and recession of floodwaters
Genesis 8:13-14 See also Genesis 8:1-11
God's drying up of rivers to allow his people to cross
Joshua 4:23 See also Exodus 14:10-31; Joshua 2:10; Joshua 3:1-17; Joshua 5:1; Psalm 106:7-11; Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 51:10
Other instances of rivers drying up
1 Kings 17:7 See also 2 Kings 19:24 pp Isaiah 37:25; Psalm 74:15; Isaiah 15:6; Isaiah 19:4-10; Isaiah 42:15; Isaiah 44:24-27; Isaiah 50:2; Jeremiah 48:34; Jeremiah 51:36; Ezekiel 30:12; Joel 1:20; Nahum 1:4
The dryness of vegetation
Psalm 37:2 See also Job 8:11-12,19; Job 14:2; Job 15:30; Isaiah 34:4 on the day of the LORD; Isaiah 40:7-8; Jeremiah 8:13; Jeremiah 12:4; Ezekiel 19:10-14; Hosea 9:16; Matthew 13:3-6 pp Mark 4:2-6 pp Luke 8:4-6 the parable of the sower; Matthew 21:19-20 pp Mark 11:20-21 the fig-tree withers
Physical dryness
Ezekiel 37:11 See also Psalm 102:4,11; Proverbs 17:22; Zechariah 11:17
Dryness indicative of desolation and hopelessness
Joel 1:12 See also Isaiah 24:7; Isaiah 33:9; Jeremiah 23:10; Joel 1:10,17; Zechariah 9:5; Zechariah 10:11
Dryness indicating God's withholding of moisture due to sin
Deuteronomy 28:22-24; 1 Kings 8:35-36
See also
4230 desert 4293 water 4815 drought 4823 famine, physical 4844 rain 5580 thirst 7221 exodus, the 7227 flood, the
