Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Isaiah 33:4

We attack our enemies like swarms of locusts; we take everything that belongs to them.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Locust;   Scofield Reference Index - Kingdom;   Thompson Chain Reference - Agriculture;   Agriculture-Horticulture;   Locusts;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Armies;   Insects;   Locust, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Caterpillar;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Gebim;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Caterpillar;   Insects;   Isaiah;   Leaf, Leaves;   Locust;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Jacob;   Locust;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Caterpiller;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Caterpillar;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Fall;   Locust;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Your spoil will be gathered as locusts are gathered;people will swarm over it like an infestation of locusts.
Hebrew Names Version
Your spoil shall be gathered as the caterpillar gathers: as locusts leap shall men leap on it.
King James Version
And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
English Standard Version
and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
New American Standard Bible
Your plunder is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; Like an infestation of locusts, people storm it.
New Century Version
Like locusts, your enemies will take away the things you stole in war. Like locusts rushing about, they will take your wealth.
Amplified Bible
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.
World English Bible
Your spoil shall be gathered as the caterpillar gathers: as locusts leap shall men leap on it.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And your spoyle shall be gathered like the gathering of caterpillers: and he shall go against him like the leaping of grashoppers.
Legacy Standard Bible
Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;As locusts rushing about men rush about on it.
Berean Standard Bible
Your spoil will be gathered as if by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men will pounce on it.
Complete Jewish Bible
Your spoil is gathered as if stripped by shearer-worms; they run over it like a swarm of locusts.
Darby Translation
And your spoil shall be gathered [like] the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running of locusts shall they run upon it.
Easy-to-Read Version
You people stole things in war. Those things will be taken from you. Many will come and take your wealth. It will be like the times when locusts come and eat all your crops.
George Lamsa Translation
Henceforth your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar; as a swarm of locusts when it is gathered together.
Good News Translation
Their belongings are pounced upon and taken as loot.
Lexham English Bible
And your spoil is gathered, as the gathering of the locust, as a swarm of locusts storming on it.
Literal Translation
And Your prey shall be gathered as the stripping locust gathers; as locusts run to and fro, he also runs about on it.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and that their spoyle maye be gathered, as the greshoppers are comonly gathered together in to the pyt.
American Standard Version
And your spoil shall be gathered as the caterpillar gathereth: as locusts leap shall men leap upon it.
Bible in Basic English
And the goods taken in war will be got together like the massing of young locusts; men will be rushing on them like the rushing of locusts.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathereth; as locusts leap do they leap upon it.
King James Version (1611)
And your spoile shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of Locusts shall he runne vpon them.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the spoyles shalbe gathered, which shalbe yours, as are the gathetheryng of Bruchus, and the multitude goyng to it shalbe as Locustes, running to and fro.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And now shall the spoils of your small and great be gathered: as if one should gather locusts, so shall they mock you.
English Revised Version
And your spoil shall be gathered as the caterpiller gathereth: as locusts leap shall they leap upon it.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And youre spuylis schulen be gaderid togidere, as a bruke is gaderid togidere, as whanne dichis ben ful therof.
Update Bible Version
And your spoil shall be gathered [as] the caterpillar gathers: as locusts leap shall men leap on it.
Webster's Bible Translation
And your spoil shall be gathered [like] the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
New English Translation
Your plunder disappears as if locusts were eating it; they swarm over it like locusts!
New King James Version
And Your plunder shall be gathered Like the gathering of the caterpillar; As the running to and fro of locusts, He shall run upon them.
New Living Translation
Just as caterpillars and locusts strip the fields and vines, so the fallen army of Assyria will be stripped!
New Life Bible
The things taken in war will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men rush upon it like locusts.
New Revised Standard
Spoil was gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, they leaped upon it.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then shall your spoil be gathered as the gathering of the caterpillar, - As the swift running of locusts, is he about to run upon them.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And your spoils shall be gathered together as the locusts are gathered, as when the ditches are full of them.
Revised Standard Version
and spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, men leap upon it.
Young's Literal Translation
And gathered hath been your spoil, A gathering of the caterpillar, As a running to and fro of locusts is he running on it.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; As locusts rushing about men rush about on it.

Contextual Overview

1 You defeated my people. Now you're in for trouble! You've never been destroyed, but you will be destroyed; you've never been betrayed, but you will be betrayed. When you have finished destroying and betraying, you will be destroyed and betrayed in return. 2 Please, Lord , be kind to us! We depend on you. Make us strong each morning, and come to save us when we are in trouble. 3 Nations scatter when you roar and show your greatness. 4 We attack our enemies like swarms of locusts; we take everything that belongs to them. 5 You, Lord , are above all others, and you live in the heavens. You have brought justice and fairness to Jerusalem; 6 you are the foundation on which we stand today. You always save us and give true wisdom and knowledge. Nothing means more to us than obeying you. 7 Listen! Our bravest soldiers are running through the streets, screaming for help. Our messengers hoped for peace, but came home crying. 8 No one travels anymore; every road is empty. Treaties are broken, and no respect is shown to any who keep promises. 9 Fields are dry and barren; Mount Lebanon wilts with shame. Sharon Valley is a desert; the forests of Bashan and Carmel have lost their leaves. 10 But the Lord says, "Now I will do something and be greatly praised.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

your spoil: Isaiah 33:23, 2 Kings 7:15, 2 Kings 7:16, 2 Chronicles 14:13, 2 Chronicles 20:25

the running: Joel 2:9, Joel 2:25

Reciprocal: Psalms 78:46 - the caterpillar Jeremiah 50:10 - all that Joel 1:4 - the caterpillar Amos 7:1 - he Nahum 2:9 - ye Habakkuk 2:8 - thou Revelation 9:3 - locusts

Cross-References

Genesis 32:28
The man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob. You have wrestled with God and with men, and you have won. That's why your name will be Israel."
Genesis 43:30
Right away he rushed off to his room and cried because of his love for Benjamin.
Genesis 43:34
They were served food from Joseph's table, and Benjamin was given five times as much as each of the others. So Joseph's brothers drank with him and had a good time.
Genesis 45:2
Then he cried so loudly that the Egyptians heard him and told about it in the king's palace.
Genesis 46:29
So Joseph got in his chariot and went to meet his father. When they met, Joseph hugged his father around the neck and cried for a long time.
Nehemiah 1:11
Please answer my prayer and the prayer of your other servants who gladly honor your name. When I serve the king his wine today, make him pleased with me and have him do what I ask.
Job 2:12
When they came near enough to see Job, they could hardly recognize him. And in their great sorrow, they tore their clothes, then sprinkled dust on their heads and cried bitterly.
Psalms 34:4
I asked the Lord for help, and he saved me from all my fears.
Proverbs 16:7
When we please the Lord , even our enemies make friends with us.
Proverbs 21:1
The Lord controls rulers, just as he determines the course of rivers.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And your spoil shall be gathered [like] the gathering of the caterpillar,.... This is the answer of the Lord to the prayer of his church, signifying that their enemies should flee, be scattered, and perish, and that they should be victorious, and enjoy the spoils of them; which they should gather as easily as the caterpillar or locust, as some render it, gathers and consumes herbs, and every green thing; or as easily as they are gathered, and laid on heaps, being weak and unable to defend themselves: most understand it of the Jews going into the camp of the Assyrians, after the destruction of them by the angel, and gathering their spoil. The Targum is,

"and the house of Israel shall gather the substance of the people, their enemies, as they gather a locust:''

the antichristian locusts or caterpillars are here meant, whose substance shall fall into the hands of the followers of Christ, when they shall have got the victory of them; this is the flesh of the whore, her worldly substance, which the kings of the earth, the Christian kings, shall eat or enjoy, Revelation 17:16:

as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them: or "upon it"; the spoil; as these locusts, of which see Revelation 9:3 run to and fro, and pillaged them in times past, as the creatures, to whom they are compared, run to and fro and destroy the fruits of the earth, so now everyone of the followers of Christ shall run and seize upon the spoil of the antichristian states.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And your spoil - The booty that the Assyrian army bad gathered in their march toward Jerusalem, and which would now be left by them to be collected by the Jews.

Shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar - The grammatical construction here is such that this may admit of two interpretations. It may either mean, as the caterpillar or the locust is gathered; or it may mean, as the caterpillar gathers its spoil. It often occurred that in countries where the locust was an article of food, they were scraped together in large quantities, and thrown into ditches, or into reservoirs, and retained to be eaten. This is the custom in some parts of Africa. But the meaning here is, undoubtedly, that the plunder of the Assyrian army would be collected by the Jews, as the locust gathered its food. The sense is, that as locusts spread themselves out over a land, as they go to and fro without rule and without molestation, gathering whatever is in their way, and consuming everything, so the Jews in great numbers, and without regular military array, would run to and fro collecting the spoils of the Assyrian army. In a country where such devastation was made by the caterpillar and locust as in Palestine, this was a very striking figure. The word rendered ‘caterpillar’ here חסיל châseyl from חסל châsal to cut off, consume), properly denotes the devourer, and is applied usually to a species of locust. So it is understood here by most of the versions. The Septuagint renders it, ‘As if one were gathering locusts, so will they insult you.’


 
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