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is the invariable rendering in the A.V. (except in Exo_9:3, “murrain,” and in Hos_13:14, “plagues”) of the Heb. ãֶּáֶø , deber (Sept. usually èÜíáôïò ), which originally seems to mean simply destruction, but is regularly applied to that common Oriental epidemic the plague (q.v.). The same term is also used in the Hebrew Scriptures for all epidemic or contagious diseases (Lev_26:25). The writers everywhere attribute it either to the agency of God himself or of that legate or angel whom they denominate îìà , malak; hence the Sept. renders the word ãáø , deber, or pestilence, in Psa_91:6, by äáéìüíéïí ìåóήìâñéíïí , “the daemon of noonday,” and Jonathan also renders the same word in the Chaldee Targum (Hab_3:5) by the Chaldee word ìà , angel or messenger. The prophets usually connect together sword, pestilence, and famine, being three of the most grievous inflictions of the Almighty upon a guilty people (2Sa_24:19). In the N.T. the term rendered “pestilence” is ëïéìüò (Mat_24:7; Luk_21:11; “pestilent fellow,” Act_24:5). SEE DISEASE.