📖 Biblical Definition
A wanderer without settled home, in Scripture nearly always a negative category indicating either divine curse or unsettled spiritual disposition. God's curse on Cain after the murder of Abel: When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth (Gen 4:12). Cain's response named the punishment's severity: my punishment is greater than I can bear... I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me (v. 14). The unsettled wandering is itself the curse-feature: rooted residence is part of God's blessing on humanity (the cultural mandate of Gen 1:28 requires sustained occupation of place). Acts 19:13 names another negative case: certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists — unsettled itinerant exorcists who tried to use the name of Jesus and were overcome by the demon. The biblical disposition toward place is rootedness, stability, and household-built-over-generations. Vagabond is the loss of that good.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Wanderer without settled home; Cain's curse.
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A wanderer without settled home or purpose; the specific curse on Cain after the murder of Abel ('a fugitive and vagabond shalt thou be'); also the description of certain itinerant Jewish exorcists in Acts 19:13. A condition of judgment, not blessing.
📖 Key Scripture
Genesis 4:12 — "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth."
Genesis 4:14 — "Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth."
Acts 19:13 — "Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Romanticized in modern culture as the free wanderer; Scripture treats it as a state of judgment.
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Vagabond romanticism inverts the biblical picture. Cain's wandering was curse, not freedom. Settled rootedness — in family, in church, in covenant land — is biblical blessing. Wandering disconnected from home is judgment unfulfilled, not autonomy fulfilled.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew nud — to wander, totter.
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['Hebrew', 'H5128', 'nud', 'to wander']
['Hebrew', 'H5110', 'nada', 'vagabond']
Usage
"Vagabondage is curse, not freedom."
"Settle in covenant; root in church."