Word study

Locust

5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: locusts, locust. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “locust” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • אַרְבֶּה arbehlocusttranslated this way 24 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H697Noun  ·  Translated: locusts 14, locust 3, swarming locust 3, like a locust 2

    Exodus 10:4 But if you refuse to let My people go, I will bring locusts into your territory tomorrow.

    Leviticus 11:22 Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket, or grasshopper.

    Full study and all 21 verses →
  • יֶלֶק yeleqlocusttranslated this way 9 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H3218Noun  ·  Translated: young locust 4, locusts 2, young locusts 1, like a young locust 1

    Psalm 105:34 He spoke, and the locusts came— young locusts without number.

    Jeremiah 51:14 The LORD of Hosts has sworn by Himself: “Surely I will fill you up with men as with locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.”

    Full study and all 7 verses →
  • חָסִיל châsîlravager, locusttranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H2625Noun  ·  Translated: grasshoppers 2, destroying locust 2, grasshopper 1, locusts 1

    Isaiah 33:4 Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.

    Joel 1:4 What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.

    Full study and all 6 verses →
  • גָּזָם gâzâmlocuststranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H1501Noun  ·  Translated: devouring locust 2, locust 1

    Joel 1:4 What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.

    Amos 4:9 “I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards; the locust devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • גּוֹב gôblocuststranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H1462Noun  ·  Translated: swarms of locusts 1, like clouds of locusts 1

    Amos 7:1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up.

    Nahum 3:17 Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where.

    Full study and all 2 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἀκρίς akrísa locusttranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G200Noun  ·  Translated: locusts 4

    Matthew 3:4 John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

    Mark 1:6 John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

    Full study and all 4 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

What the Bible says about locust: passages by topic →

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.