Exodus 10:4-6

10:4 But if you refuse to release my people, I am going to bring ¹  locusts ²  into your territory ³  tomorrow. 10:5 They will cover ⁴  the surface ⁵  of the earth, so that you ⁶  will be unable to see the ground. They will eat the remainder of what escaped ⁷  – what is left over ⁸  for you – from the hail, and they will eat every tree that grows for you from the field. 10:6 They will fill your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses of Egypt, such as ⁹  neither ¹⁰  your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since they have been ¹¹  in the land until this day!’” Then Moses ¹²  turned and went out from Pharaoh.

Psalms 105:34

105:34 He ordered locusts to come, ¹³ 

innumerable grasshoppers.

Joel 1:4-7

1:4 What the gazam-locust left the ‘arbeh-locust consumed, ¹⁴ 

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

and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed! ¹⁵ 

1:5 Wake up, you drunkards, ¹⁶  and weep!

Wail, all you wine drinkers, ¹⁷ 

because the sweet wine ¹⁸  has been taken away ¹⁹  from you. ²⁰ 

1:6 For a nation ²¹  has invaded ²²  our ²³  land.

There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. ²⁴ 

Their teeth are like those ²⁵  of a lion;

they tear apart their prey like a lioness. ²⁶ 

1:7 They ²⁷  have destroyed our ²⁸  vines; ²⁹ 

they have turned our ³⁰  fig trees into mere splinters.

They have completely stripped off the bark ³¹  and thrown them aside;

the ³²  twigs are stripped bare. ³³ 

Joel 2:25

2:25 I will make up for the years ³⁴ 

that the ‘arbeh-locust ³⁵  consumed your crops ³⁶  –

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

my great army ³⁷  that I sent against you.

[10:4]  ¹ tn הִנְנִי (hinni) before the active participle מֵבִיא (mevi’) is the imminent future construction: “I am about to bring” or “I am going to bring” – precisely, “here I am bringing.”

[10:4]  ² tn One of the words for “locusts” in the Bible is אַרְבֶּה (’arbeh), which comes from רָבָה (ravah, “to be much, many”). It was used for locusts because of their immense numbers.

[10:4]  ³ tn Heb “within your border.”

[10:5]  ⁴ tn The verbs describing the locusts are singular because it is a swarm or plague of locusts. This verb (וְכִסָּה, vÿkhissah, “cover”) is a Piel perfect with a vav consecutive; it carries the same future nuance as the participle before it.

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

[10:5]  ⁶ tn The text has לִרְאֹת וְלֹא יוּכַל (vÿlo’ yukhal lir’ot, “and he will not be able to see”). The verb has no expressed subjects. The clause might, therefore, be given a passive translation: “so that [it] cannot be seen.” The whole clause is the result of the previous statement.

[10:5]  ⁷ sn As the next phrase explains “what escaped” refers to what the previous plague did not destroy. The locusts will devour everything, because there will not be much left from the other plagues for them to eat.

[10:5]  ⁸ tn הַנִּשְׁאֶרֶת (hannish’eret) parallels (by apposition) and adds further emphasis to the preceding two words; it is the Niphal participle, meaning “that which is left over.”

[10:6]  ⁹ tn The relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (’asher) is occasionally used as a comparative conjunction (see GKC 499 §161.b).

[10:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “which your fathers have not seen, nor your fathers’ fathers.”

[10:6]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew construction מִיּוֹם הֱיוֹתָם (miyyom heyotam, “from the day of their being”). The statement essentially says that no one, even the elderly, could remember seeing a plague of locusts like this. In addition, see B. Childs, “A Study of the Formula, ‘Until This Day,’” JBL 82 (1963).

[10:6]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[105:34]  ¹³ tn Heb “he spoke and locusts came.”

[1:4]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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.”

[1:5]  ¹⁶ sn The word drunkards has a double edge here. Those accustomed to drinking too much must now lament the unavailability of wine. It also may hint that the people in general have become religiously inebriated and are unresponsive to the Lord. They are, as it were, drunkards from a spiritual standpoint.

[1:5]  ¹⁷ sn Joel addresses the first of three groups particularly affected by the locust plague. In v. 5 he describes the effects on the drunkards, who no longer have a ready supply of intoxicating wine; in vv. 11-12 he describes the effects on the farmers, who have watched their labors come to naught because of the insect infestation; and in vv. 13-14 he describes the effects on the priests, who are no longer able to offer grain sacrifices and libations in the temple.

[1:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “over the sweet wine, because it.” Cf. KJV, NIV, TEV, NLT “new wine.”

[1:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “cut off” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV); NAB “will be withheld.”

[1:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your mouth.” This is a synecdoche of part (the mouth) for whole (the person).

[1:6]  ²¹ sn As becomes increasingly clear in what follows, this nation is to be understood figuratively. It refers to the locust invasion as viewed from the standpoint of its methodical, destructive advance across the land (BDB 156 s.v. גּוֹי 2). This term is used figuratively to refer to animals one other time (Zeph 2:14).

[1:6]  ²² tn Heb “has come up against.”

[1:6]  ²³ tn Heb “my.”

[1:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[It] is huge and there is not number.”

[1:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “its teeth are the teeth of a lion.”

[1:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “its incisors are those of a lioness.” The sharp, cutting teeth are metonymical for the action of tearing apart and eating prey. The language is clearly hyperbolic. Neither locusts nor human invaders literally have teeth of this size. The prophet is using exaggerated and picturesque language to portray in vivid terms the enormity of the calamity. English versions vary greatly on the specifics: KJV “cheek teeth”; ASV “jaw-teeth”; NAB “molars”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “fangs.”

[1:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “it.” Throughout vv. 6-7 the Hebrew uses singular forms to describe the locust swarm, but the translation uses plural forms because several details of the text make more sense in English as if they are describing the appearance and effects of individual locusts.

[1:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “my.”

[1:7]  ²⁹ tn Both “vines” and “fig trees” are singular in the Hebrew text, but are regarded as collective singulars.

[1:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “my.”

[1:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “it has completely stripped her.”

[1:7]  ³² tn Heb “her.”

[1:7]  ³³ tn Heb “grow white.”

[2:25]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I will restore to you the years.”

[2:25]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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.