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Agabus

Man living at the time of the New Testament

Agabus, a prophet, foretold a famine and Paul's arrest in Jerusalem.

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Agabus was a prophet from Jerusalem mentioned twice in the book of Acts. In the first instance, he came to Antioch and predicted through the Spirit that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world, which happened during the reign of Claudius. The disciples then decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. (Act.11.28)

Later, when Paul was visiting Philip the evangelist in Caesarea, Agabus came down from Judea. He took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'" This prophetic act foretold Paul's arrest in Jerusalem. (Act.21.10,11).

Connections

Part of: The Jerusalem Church

Paul and Luke at the house of Philip

FriendsStated in the text

At Caesarea Paul stayed with Philip the evangelist, who had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. The prophet Agabus arrived there and bound his own feet and hands with Paul's belt.

PhilipOne of the seven deacons, evangelized in SamariaPaulAn apostleAgabusProphet who predicted famine and Paul's arrestLukePhysician; companion of Paul; author of Luke and Acts
Where the text shows it: Acts 21:8-9 — Philip's four prophesying daughtersActs 21:10-11 — Agabus and the belt

Sources: Scripture

More background: search Wikipedia ↗

Bible dictionary

Agabus Easton Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)

A “prophet,” probably one of the seventy disciples of Christ. He prophesied at Antioch of an approaching famine (Acts 11:27, 28). Many years afterwards he met Paul at Caesarea, and warned him of the bonds and affliction that awaited him at Jerusalem should he persist in going thither (Acts 21:10-12).

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Agabus Smith Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)

(a locust), a Christian prophet in the apostolic age, mentioned in (Acts 11:28) and Acts 21:10 He predicted, (Acts 11:28) that a famine would take place in the reign of Claudius. Josephus mentions a famine which prevailed in Judea in the reign of Claudius, and swept away many of the inhabitants. (In (Acts 21:10) we learn that Agabus and Paul met at Caesarea some time after this.)

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Agabus Hitchcock Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary (1869)

a locust; the father's joy or feast

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Agabus Hastings Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

AG'ABUS (possibly locust), a prophet who foretold in Antioch while Paul and Barnabas were there, A. D. 43. Acts 11:28. A famine took place the following year. It was probably limited to Judaea, where it was severe. The poor Jews were relieved by Helena, the queen of Adiabene, who bought corn for them out of Alexandria. Aid was sent to the Christians in Jerusalem from Antioch. Acts 11:29. Many years after, Agabus met Paul at Cesarea, and warned him of the sufferings he would endure if he went to Jerusalem. Acts 21:10.

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Agabus Schaff Schaff’s Dictionary of the Bible

AG'ABUS (possibly locust), a prophet who foretold in Antioch while Paul and Barnabas were there, A. D. 43. Acts 11:28. A famine took place the following year. It was probably limited to Judaea, where it was severe. The poor Jews were relieved by Helena, the queen of Adiabene, who bought corn for them out of Alexandria. Aid was sent to the Christians in Jerusalem from Antioch. Acts 11:29. Many years after,

Agabus met Paul at Cesarea, and warned him of the sufferings he would endure if he went to Jerusalem. Acts 21:10.

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Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.

Where Agabus appears

2 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s G0013

Acts2

Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.