Calamity - Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament Words
Usage Number: 1
Strong's Number: H343
Original Word: ’êd
Usage Notes: "calamity; disaster." A possible cognate of this word appears in Arabic. Its 24 biblical appearances occur in every period of biblical Hebrew (12 in wisdom literature and only 1 in poetical literature, the Psalms). This word signifies a "disaster" or "calamity" befalling a nation or individual. When used of a nation, it represents a "political or military event". "To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste" (Deut. 32:35, first occurrence). The prophets tend to use ’êd in the sense of national "disaster," while Wisdom writers use it for "personal tragedy."