Locusts in the Bible

• Locusts, katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers were allowed as foodLev 11:22
  The verses

  Lev 11:22Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket, or grasshopper.
• John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honeyMatt 3:4, Mark 1:6
  The verses

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

  Mark 1:6John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
• The locusts have no king, yet advance in formationProv 30:27
  The verses

  Prov 30:27the locusts have no king, yet they all advance in formation;
• Solomon prays about famine, blight, mildew, and locusts1 Kgs 8:37
  The verses

  1 Kgs 8:37When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,
• You will sow much seed but the locusts will eat itDeut 28:38
  The verses

  Deut 28:38You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.

The plague in Egypt

• Moses warned of locusts covering the land and filling the housesExod 10:4–6
  The verses

  Exod 10:4–6But if you refuse to let My people go, I will bring locusts into your territory tomorrow. They will cover the face of the land so that no one can see it. They will devour whatever is left after the hail and eat every tree that grows in your fields. They will fill your houses and the houses of all your officials and every Egyptian—something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since the day they came into this land.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh’s presence.
• An east wind brought them by morningExod 10:13
  The verses

  Exod 10:13So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and throughout that day and night the LORD sent an east wind across the land. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts.
• The land turned black; nothing green remainedExod 10:14–15
  The verses

  Exod 10:14–15The locusts swarmed across the land and settled over the entire territory of Egypt. Never before had there been so many locusts, and never again will there be. They covered the face of all the land until it was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left behind. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.
• A west wind blew them into the Red SeaExod 10:19
  The verses

  Exod 10:19And the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind that carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust remained anywhere in Egypt.

Comparisons

• Joel: what one locust left, the next ateJoel 1:4
  The verses

  Joel 1:4What 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.
• The Midianites came like a swarm of locustsJudg 6:5, Judg 7:12
  The verses

  Judg 6:5For the Midianites came with their livestock and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were innumerable, and they entered the land to ravage it.

  Judg 7:12Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.
• The spies felt like grasshoppers beside the descendants of AnakNum 13:33
  The verses

  Num 13:33We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them!”