Locust

Locust is the term applied to various species of migratory grasshoppers (primarily Schistocerca gregaria, the desert locust) capable of forming vast swarms that strip all vegetation from an area in hours. Ten different Hebrew words in Scripture designate locusts or related insects at various stages of development or under different names reflecting their destructive capacity. Locusts are named among the clean foods permitted to Israel (Lev. 11:22), and John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey in the wilderness (Matt. 3:4; Mark 1:6). The eighth plague of Egypt was a devastating locust swarm that consumed every remaining plant (Ex. 10:12–15).

In prophetic literature, locusts function as instruments of divine judgment: Joel's famous locust plague (Joel 1:4–7; 2:1–11) becomes a metaphor for an invading army and is associated with the Day of the LORD. Amos 7:1–3 describes a locust swarm in a vision of coming judgment that is averted by prophetic intercession. Revelation 9:3–10 deploys the locust image eschatologically: demonic creatures like locusts rise from the abyss with the power of scorpions to torment humanity for five months—one of the most vivid symbolic deployments of the image in Scripture.