Joel 1 · Verse 4

Joel 1:4

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.

Joel 1:4, King James Version

Joel 1:4 in other translations

BSB	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.
WEB	What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.
ASV	That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.
YLT	What is left of the palmer-worm, eaten hath the locust, And what is left of the locust, Eaten hath the cankerworm, And what is left of the cankerworm, Eaten hath the caterpillar.
DARBY	that which the palmer-worm 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 caterpillar eaten.
BBE	What the worm did not make a meal of, has been taken by the locust; and what the locust did not take, has been food for the plant-worm; and what the plant-worm did not take, has been food for the field-fly.
Webster	That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.

What does Joel 1:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

4. 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, adapting it for leaping. The first "kind" is that of the locust, having just emerged from the egg in spring, and without wings. The second is when at the end of spring, still in their first skin, the locusts put forth little ones without legs or wings. The third, when after their third casting of the old skin, they get small wings, which enable them to leap the better, but not to fly. Being unable to go away till their wings are matured, they devour all before them, grass, shrubs, and bark of trees: translated "rough caterpillars" (Jr 51:27). The fourth kind, the matured winged locusts (see on Na 3:16). In Joe 2:25 they are enumerated in the reverse order, where the restoration of the devastations caused by them is promised. The Hebrews make the first species refer to Assyria and Babylon; the second species, to Medo-Persia; the third, to Greco-Macedonia and Antiochus Epiphanes; the fourth, to the Romans. Though the primary reference be to literal locusts, the Holy Spirit doubtless had in view the successive empires which assailed Judea, each worse than its predecessor, Rome being the climax.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 4 That 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 blight, from its cutting the leaves of the trees into pieces for its nourishment. The locust, ארבה arbeh, from רבה rabah, to multiply, from the immense increase and multitude of this insect. Cankerworm, ילק yelek, from לק lak, to lick or lap with the tongue; the reference is uncertain. Caterpillar, חסיל chasil, from חסל chasal, to consume, to eat up, the consumer. Bishop Newcome translates the first grasshopper; the second, locust; the third, devouring locust; and the fourth, consuming locust. After all that has been said by interpreters concerning these four animals, I am fully of opinion that the arbeh, or locust himself, is the gazam, the yelek, and the chasil and that these different names are used here by the prophet to point out the locust in its different states, or progress from embryo to full growth. See the note on Joe 2:2 (note).

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Joel 1:1-7

A plague of locusts. (Joel 1:1-7) All sorts of people are called to lament it. (Joel 1:8-13) They are to look to God. (Joel 1:14-20) Verses 1-7 The most aged could not remember such calamities as were about to take place. Armies of insects were coming upon the land to eat the fruits of it. It is expressed so as to apply also to the destruction of the country by a foreign enemy, and seems to refer to the devastations…

Read the full comment on Joel 1:1-7 →

Joel 1:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

יֶ֤תֶרYe.ter[the] remainder ofH3499

הַגָּזָם֙ha.ga.Zamthe locust[s]H1501

אָכַ֣ל'a.Khalit has eatenH398

הָֽאַרְבֶּ֔הha.'ar.Behthe locust[s]H697

וְיֶ֥תֶרve.Ye.terand [the] remainder ofH3499

הָאַרְבֶּ֖הha.'ar.Behthe locust[s]H697

אָכַ֣ל'a.Khalit has eatenH398

הַיָּ֑לֶקhai.Ya.lekthe locust[s]H3218

וְיֶ֣תֶרve.Ye.terand [the] remainder ofH3499

הַיֶּ֔לֶקhai.Ye.lekthe locust[s]H3218

אָכַ֖ל'a.Khalit has eatenH398

הֶחָסִֽיל\׃he.cha.Silthe locust[s]H2625

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Joel 1:4

Joel 2:25
And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
Amos 4:9
I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
Amos 7:1
Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.
Psalms 78:46
He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.
Exodus 10:4
Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:
Isaiah 33:4
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.
Deuteronomy 28:38
Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
Psalms 105:34
He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without number,
Exodus 10:12-15
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
Jeremiah 51:14
The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
Revelation 9:3-7
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. …
2 Chronicles 7:13
If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

That which the palmer-worm hath left. Heb. The residue of thepalmer-worm.
2:25; Am 4:9The learned Bochart, and others, are of the opinion that the four Hebrew words, {gazam, yelek, arbeh, chasil}, respectively rendered the palmer-worm, locust, canker-worm and caterpillar, denote four different species of locusts. See on
Ex 10:4
the locust eaten.
Ex 10:12-15; De 28:38,42; 1Ki 8:37; 2Ch 6:28; 7:13
Ps 78:46; 105:34; Am 7:1; Re 9:3-7
the canker-worm eaten.
Na 3:15-17
the caterpillar.
Isa 33:4; Jer 51:14,27

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Joel 1:3
Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
Joel 1:4
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.
Joel 1:5
Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

Read all of Joel 1

Joel 1:4 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Lo que quedó de la oruga comió la langosta, y lo que quedó de la langosta comió el pulgón; y el revoltón comió lo que del pulgón había quedado.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	ce qu’a laissé la chenille, la sauterelle l’a mangé; et ce qu’a laissé la sauterelle, l’yélek l’a mangé, et ce qu’a laissé l’yélek, la locuste l’a mangé.
German Elberfelder 1871	Was der Nager übriggelassen hatte, fraß die Heuschrecke; und was die Heuschrecke übriggelassen, fraß der Abfresser und was der Abfresser übriggelassen, fraß der Vertilger
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Residuum erucæ comedit locusta, et residuum locustæ comedit bruchus, et residuum bruchi comedit rubigo.