Keluaran 10:14-15

10:14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the territory ¹  of Egypt. It was very severe; ²  there had been no locusts like them before, nor will there be such ever again. ³  10:15 They covered ⁴  the surface ⁵  of all the ground, so that the ground became dark with them, ⁶  and they ate all the vegetation of the ground and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green remained on the trees or on anything that grew in the fields throughout the whole land of Egypt.

Yoel 1:4

1:4 What the gazam-locust left the ‘arbeh-locust consumed, ⁷ 

what the ‘arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed,

and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed! ⁸ 

Yoel 2:3

2:3 Like fire they devour everything in their path; ⁹ 

a flame blazes behind them.

The land looks like the Garden of Eden ¹⁰  before them,

but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness –

for nothing escapes them! ¹¹ 

Yoel 2:25

2:25 I will make up for the years ¹² 

that the ‘arbeh-locust ¹³  consumed your crops ¹⁴  –

the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust –

my great army ¹⁵  that I sent against you.

Amos 4:9

4:9 “I destroyed your crops ¹⁶  with blight and disease.

Locusts kept ¹⁷  devouring your orchards, ¹⁸  vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 7:1-2

Symbolic Visions of Judgment

7:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ¹⁹  him making locusts just as the crops planted late ²⁰  were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. ²¹ ) 7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ²² 

How can Jacob survive? ²³ 

He is too weak!” ²⁴ 

[10:14]  ¹ tn Heb “border.”

[10:14]  ² tn This is an interpretive translation. The clause simply has כָּבֵד מְאֹד (kaved mÿ’od), the stative verb with the adverb – “it was very heavy.” The description prepares for the following statement about the uniqueness of this locust infestation.

[10:14]  ³ tn Heb “after them.”

[10:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they covered.”

[10:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “eye,” an unusual expression (see v. 5; Num 22:5, 11).

[10:15]  ⁶ tn The verb is וַתֶּחְשַׁךְ (vattekhshakh, “and it became dark”). The idea is that the ground had the color of the swarms of locusts that covered it.

[1:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “eaten.” This verb is repeated three times in v. 4 to emphasize the total devastation of the crops by this locust invasion.

[1:4]  ⁸ tn The four Hebrew terms used in this verse are of uncertain meaning. English translations show a great deal of variation in dealing with these: (1) For ָגּזָם (gazam) KJV has “palmerworm,” NEB “locust,” NAB “cutter”, NASB “gnawing locust,” NIV “locust swarm,” NKJV “chewing locust,” NRSV, NLT “cutting locust(s),” NIrV “giant locusts”; (2) for אַרְבֶּה (’arbeh) KJV has “locust,” NEB “swarm,” NAB “locust swarm,” NASB, NKJV, NRSV, NLT “swarming locust(s),” NIV “great locusts,” NIrV “common locusts”; (3) for יֶלֶק (yeleq) KJV has “cankerworm,” NEB “hopper,” NAB “grasshopper,” NASB “creeping locust,” NIV, NIrV “young locusts,” NKJV “crawling locust,” NRSV, NLT “hopping locust(s)”; (4) for חָסִיל (khasil) KJV has “caterpillar,” NEB “grub,” NAB “devourer,” NASB, NLT “stripping locust(s),” NIV, NIrV “other locusts,” NKJV “consuming locust,” NRSV “destroying locust.” It is debated whether the Hebrew terms describe different species of locusts or similar insects or different developmental stages of the same species, or are virtual synonyms. While the last seems more likely, given the uncertainty over their exact meaning, the present translation has transliterated the Hebrew terms in combination with the word “locust.”

[1:4]  sn Four different words for “locust” are used in this verse. Whether these words represent different life-stages of the locusts, or whether virtual synonyms are being used to underscore the severity of damage caused by the relentless waves of locust invasion, is not entirely certain. The latter seems more likely. Many interpreters have understood the locust plagues described here to be symbolic of invading armies that will devastate the land, but the symbolism could also work the other way, with real plagues of locusts described in the following verses as an invading army.

[2:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “a fire devours before it.”

[2:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like the garden of Eden, the land is before them.”

[2:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and surely a survivor there is not for it.” The antecedent of the pronoun “it” is apparently עַם (’am, “people”) of v. 2, which seems to be a figurative way of referring to the locusts. K&D 26:191-92 thought that the antecedent of this pronoun was “land,” but the masculine gender of the pronoun does not support this.

[2:25]  ¹² tn Heb “I will restore to you the years.”

[2:25]  sn The plural years suggests that the plague to which Joel refers was not limited to a single season. Apparently the locusts were a major problem over several successive years. One season of drought and locust invasion would have been bad enough. Several such years would have been devastating.

[2:25]  ¹³ sn The same four terms for locust are used here as in 1:4, but in a different order. This fact creates some difficulty for the notion that the four words refer to four distinct stages of locust development.

[2:25]  ¹⁴ tn The term “your crops” does not appear in the Hebrew, but has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[2:25]  ¹⁵ sn Here Joel employs military language to describe the locusts. In the prophet’s thinking this invasion was far from being a freak accident. Rather, the Lord is pictured here as a divine warrior who leads his army into the land as a punishment for past sin and as a means of bringing about spiritual renewal on the part of the people.

[4:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “you.” By metonymy the crops belonging to these people are meant. See the remainder of this verse, which describes the agricultural devastation caused by locusts.

[4:9]  ¹⁷ tn The Hiphil infinitive construct is taken adverbially (“kept”) and connected to the activity of the locusts (NJPS). It also could be taken with the preceding sentence and related to the Lord’s interventions (“I kept destroying,” cf. NEB, NJB, NIV, NRSV), or it could be understood substantivally in construct with the following nouns (“Locusts devoured your many orchards,” cf. NASB; cf. also KJV, NKJV).

[4:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “gardens.”

[7:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:1]  ²⁰ sn The crops planted late (consisting of vegetables) were planted in late January-early March and sprouted in conjunction with the spring rains of March-April. For a discussion of the ancient Israelite agricultural calendar, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 31-44.

[7:1]  ²¹ tn Or “the mowings of the king.”

[7:1]  sn This royal harvest may refer to an initial mowing of crops collected as taxes by the royal authorities.

[7:2]  ²² tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ²³ tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[7:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “small.”