'Locusts' in the Bible

For if you refuse to let My people go, then hear this: tomorrow I will bring [migratory] locusts into your country.

your houses and those of all your servants and of all the Egyptians shall be filled with locusts, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from their birth until this day.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat all the plants of the land, all that the hail has left.”

So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; when it was morning, the east wind had brought the [swarms of] locusts.

The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in the whole territory, a very dreadful mass of them; never before were there such locusts as these, nor will there ever be again.

So the Lord shifted the wind to a violent west wind which lifted up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea; not one locust remained within the border of Egypt.

For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, and they would come in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were innumerable. So they came into the land to devastate it.

Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying [camped] in the valley, as countless as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.

“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there are [migratory] locusts or grasshoppers, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is,

If I shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or if I command locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence and plague among My people,

He spoke, and the [migratory] locusts came,And the young locusts, even without number,

The locusts have no king,Yet all of them go out in groups;

Your spoil [of Israel’s foe] is gathered [by the people of Jerusalem] as the caterpillar gathers;As locusts swarming so people swarm on it.

“They have cut down her forest,” says the Lord;“Certainly it will no longer be found,Because they (the invaders) are more numerous than locustsAnd cannot be counted.

The Lord of hosts has sworn [an oath] by Himself, saying,“Surely I will fill you with men, as with [a swarm of] locusts [who strip the land clean],And they will lift up a song and shout of victory over you.”

Lift up a signal in the land [to spread the news]!Blow the trumpet among the nations!Dedicate the nations [for war] against her;Call against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.Appoint a marshal against her;Cause the horses to come up like bristly locusts [with their wings not yet released from their cases].

For a [pagan and hostile] nation has invaded My land [like locusts],Mighty and without number;Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,And it has the fangs of a lioness.

“But I will remove the northern army far away from you,And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,With its forward guard into the eastern sea (Dead Sea)And with its rear guard into the western sea (Mediterranean Sea).And its stench will arise and its foul odor of decay will come up [this is the fate of the northern army in the final day of the Lord],For He has done great things.”

Thus the Lord God showed me [a vision], and behold, He was forming a swarm of locusts when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing.

And when the locusts had finished eating the plants of the land, then I said,“O Lord God, please forgive!How can Jacob stand,For he is so small [that he cannot endure this]?”

But there [in the very midst of these preparations] the fire will devour you;The sword will cut you down;It will devour you as the locust does.Multiply yourself like the creeping locusts;Multiply yourself like the swarming locusts.

Your guardsmen are like the swarming locusts.Your marshals are like the hordes of grasshoppersSettling in the stone walls on a cold day.When the sun rises, they fly away,And no one knows the place where they are.

Now this same John had clothing made of camel’s hair and a [wide] leather band around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a [wide] leather band around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power [to hurt] was given to them, like the power which the earth’s scorpions have.

The locusts resembled horses prepared and equipped for battle; and on their heads appeared to be [something like] golden crowns, and their faces resembled human faces.