Matthew 3:4
And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
Matthew 3:4 in other translations
| BSB | John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. |
|---|---|
| WEB | Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. |
| ASV | Now John himself had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey. |
| YLT | And this John had his clothing of camel's hair, and a girdle of skin round his loins, and his nourishment was locusts and honey of the field. |
| DARBY | And John himself had his garment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his nourishment was locusts and wild honey. |
| BBE | Now John was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather band about him; and his food was locusts and honey. |
| Webster | And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey. |
What does Matthew 3:4 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain
Barnes' Notes
His meat was locusts. His food. These constituted the food of the common people. Among the Greeks, the vilest of the people used to eat them; and the fact that John made his food of them is significant of his great poverty and humble life. The Jews were allowed to eat them, Lev 11:22. Locusts are flying insects, and are of various kinds. The green locusts are about two inches in length, and about the thickness of a man's finger. The common brown locust is about three inches long. The general form and appearance of the locust is not unlike the grasshopper They were one of the plagues of Egypt, Ex 10:1. In eastern countries they are very numerous. They appear in such quantities as to darken the sky, and devour in a short time every green thing. The whole earth is sometimes covered with them for many leagues, Joel 1:4, Isa 33:4.
"Some species of the locust are eaten at this day in easternWild honey. This was probably the honey that he found in the rocks of the wilderness. Palestine was often called the land flowing with milk and honey, Ex 3:8,17, 13:5. Bees were kept with great care and great numbers of them abounded in the fissures of trees and the clefts of rocks. There is also a species of honey called wild-honey, or wood-honey 1Sam 14:27, or honey-dew, produced by certain little insects, and deposited on the leaves of trees, and flowing from them in great quantities to the ground. See 1Sam 14:24-27. This is said to be produced still in Arabia; and perhaps it was this which John lived upon.
countries, and are even esteemed a delicacy when properly
cooked. After tearing off the legs and wings, and taking out
the entrails, they stick them in long rows upon wooden spits,
roast them at the fire, and then proceed to devour them with
great zest. There are also other ways of preparing them.
For example: They cook them and dress them in oil; or, having
dried them, they pulverize them, and when other food is scarce
make bread of the meal. The Bedouins pack them with salt, in
close masses, which they carry in their leathern sacks. From
these they cut slices as they may need them. It is singular
that even learned men have suffered themselves to hesitate
about understanding these passages of the literal locust,
when the fact that these are eaten by the orientals is so
abundantly proved by the concurrent testimony of travellers.
One of them says, they are brought to market on strings in all
the cities of Arabia, and that he saw an Arab on Mount
Sumara, who had collected a sack full of them. They are
prepared in different ways. An Arab in Egypt, of whom he
requested that he would immediately eat locusts in his presence,
threw them upon the glowing coals; and after he supposed they
were roasted enough, he took them by the legs and head, and
devoured the remainder at one mouthful. When the Arabs have
them in quantities, they roast or dry them in an oven, or boil
them and eat them with salt. The Arabs in the kingdom of
Morocco boil the locusts; and the Bedouins eat locusts, which
are collected in great quantities in the beginning of April,
when they are easily caught. After having been roasted a
little upon the iron plate on which bread is baked, they are
dried in the sun, and then put into large sacks, with the
mixture of a little salt. They are never served up as a dish,
but every one takes a handful of them when hungry. "
Un. Bib. Die
(n) "raiment" 2Kgs 1:8, Mt 11:8 (o) "locusts" Lev 11:22
Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Matthew 3:1-6
After Malachi there was no prophet until John the Baptist came. He appeared first in the wilderness of Judea. This was not an uninhabited desert, but a part of the country not thickly peopled, nor much enclosed. No place is so remote as to shut us out from the visits of Divine grace. The doctrine he preached was repentance; "Repent ye." The word here used, implies a total alteration in the mind, a change in the…
Matthew 3:4 in the original Greek
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Cross references for Matthew 3:4
- 2 Kings 1:8
And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.
- Mark 1:6
And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
- Matthew 11:8
But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.
- Zechariah 13:4
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
- Leviticus 11:22
Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.
- Luke 1:17
And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
- Malachi 4:5
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
- Deuteronomy 32:13
He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
- Revelation 11:3
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
- 1 Samuel 14:25-27
And all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground. And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped; but no man put his hand to his mouth: for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened.
- Matthew 11:18
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Context
- Matthew 3:3
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
- Matthew 3:4
And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
- Matthew 3:5
Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan,
Matthew 3:4 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | Y tenía Juan su vestido de pelos de camellos, y una cinta de cuero alrededor de sus lomos; y su comida era langostas y miel silvestre. |
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| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | Or Jean lui-même avait son vêtement de poil de chameau et une ceinture de cuir autour de ses reins; et sa nourriture était des sauterelles et du miel sauvage. |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | Er aber, Johannes, hatte seine Kleidung von Kamelhaaren und einen ledernen Gürtel um seine Lenden; seine Speise aber war Heuschrecken und wilder Honig. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | Ipse autem Joannes habebat vestimentum de pilis camelorum, et zonam pelliceam circa lumbos suos: esca autem ejus erat locustæ, et mel silvestre. |