God’s Word Translation
Joel 1:4
4What young locusts leave, mature locusts will eat. What mature locusts leave, adult locusts will eat. What adult locusts leave, grasshoppers will eat.
Joel 1:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
- New International Version (NIV)What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.
- English Standard Version (ESV)What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.
- New King James Version (NKJV)What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
Context of Joel 1:4
2Listen to this, you leaders! Open your ears, all inhabitants of this land! Nothing like this has ever happened in your lifetime or in your ancestors’ lifetime. 3Tell your children about it. Have your children tell their children. Have your grandchildren tell their children. What young locusts leave, mature locusts will eat. What mature locusts leave, adult locusts will eat. What adult locusts leave, grasshoppers will eat. 5Wake up and cry, you drunks! Cry loudly, you wine drinkers! New wine has been taken away from you. 6A strong nation attacked my land. It has too many soldiers to count. They have teeth like lions. They have fangs like grown lions.
Read all of Joel 1Joel 1:4 word by word
יֶ֤תֶר הַגָּזָם֙ אָכַ֣ל הָֽאַרְבֶּ֔ה וְיֶ֥תֶר הָאַרְבֶּ֖ה אָכַ֣ל הַיָּ֑לֶק וְיֶ֣תֶר הַיֶּ֔לֶק אָכַ֖ל הֶחָסִֽיל׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Joel 1:4
- Joel 2:25“Then I will repay you for the years that the mature locusts, the adult locusts, the grasshoppers, and the young locusts ate your crops. (They are the large army that I sent against you.)
- Amos 4:9I struck your ⌞crops⌟ with blight and mildew. Locusts repeatedly devoured your gardens, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees. And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord.
- Exodus 10:4If you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country.
- Exodus 10:12The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over Egypt to bring locusts. They will invade Egypt and eat up every plant in the land—everything left by the hail.”
- Deuteronomy 28:38You will plant many crops in your fields, but harvest little because locusts will destroy your crops.
- 1 Kings 8:37“There may be famine in the land. Plant diseases, heat waves, funguses, locusts, or grasshoppers may destroy crops. Enemies may blockade Israel’s city gates. During every plague or sickness
- 2 Chronicles 6:28“There may be famine in the land. Plant diseases, heat waves, funguses, locusts, or grasshoppers may destroy crops. Enemies may blockade Israel’s city gates. During every plague or sickness
- 2 Chronicles 7:13I may shut the sky so that there is no rain, or command grasshoppers to devour the countryside, or send an epidemic among my people.
- Psalms 78:46He gave their crops to grasshoppers and their produce to locusts.
- Psalms 105:34He spoke, and countless locusts and grasshoppers came.
- Amos 7:1This is what the Almighty Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts when the second crop was being harvested. It was the harvest that followed the harvest for the king.
- Revelation 9:3Locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power like the power of earthly scorpions.
- Nahum 3:15Fire will consume you there. A sword will cut you down. It will consume you like locusts. Multiply like locusts! Multiply like hungry locusts!
- Isaiah 33:4You nations, your loot is gathered as grasshoppers harvest a crop. Like swarming locusts, people rush for your loot.
- Jeremiah 51:14The Lord of Armies has taken an oath on himself: “I will certainly fill you with many enemy armies. They will swarm like locusts. People will shout their victory over you.”
Commentaries on Joel 1:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4That which the palmerworm hath left - Here he begins to open his message, and the words he chooses show that he is going to announce a devastation of the land by locusts, and a famine consequent on their depredations. What the different insects may be which he specifies is not easy to determine. I shall give the words of the original, with their etymology. The palmerworm, גזם gazam, from the same root, to cut short; probably the caterpillar, or some such…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4That which the palmerworm hath left, hath the locust eaten - The creatures here spoken of are different kinds of locusts, so named from their number or voracity. We, who are free from this scourge of God, know them only by the generic name of locusts. But the law mentions several sorts of locusts, each after its kind, which might be eaten. In fact, above eighty different kinds of locusts have been observed, some of which are twice as large as that which…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4Judah faced a terrible locust plague. Some experts think the four types of locusts symbolize four ancient empires that conquered Israel. Others believe the words describe four stages of locust growth. The prophet probably used different terms to highlight the massive destruction caused by the relentless insects.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. This verse states the subject on which he afterwards expands. Four species or stages of locusts, rather than four different insects, are meant (compare Le 11:22). Literally, (1) the gnawing locust; (2) the swarming locust; (3) the licking locust; (4) the consuming locust; forming a climax to the most destructive kind. The last is often three inches long, and the two antennæ, each an inch long. The two hinder of its six feet are larger than the rest…Read the comment
Topics related to Joel 1:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Joel 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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