Isaiah 33:4
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run on them.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run on them.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And your spoil shall be gathered as the caterpillar gathereth: as locusts leap shall men leap upon it.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And the goods taken in war will be got together like the massing of young locusts; men will be rushing on them like the rushing of locusts.
Webster's Revision
And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
World English Bible
Your spoil will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap.
English Revised Version (ERV)
And your spoil shall be gathered as the caterpiller gathereth: as locusts leap shall they leap upon it.
Definitions for Isaiah 33:4
Barnes's Isaiah 33:4 Bible Commentary
And your spoil - The booty that the Assyrian army bad gathered in their march toward Jerusalem, and which would now be left by them to be collected by the Jews.
Shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar - The grammatical construction here is such that this may admit of two interpretations. It may either mean, as the caterpillar or the locust is gathered; or it may mean, as the caterpillar gathers its spoil. It often occurred that in countries where the locust was an article of food, they were scraped together in large quantities, and thrown into ditches, or into reservoirs, and retained to be eaten. This is the custom in some parts of Africa. But the meaning here is, undoubtedly, that the plunder of the Assyrian army would be collected by the Jews, as the locust gathered its food. The sense is, that as locusts spread themselves out over a land, as they go to and fro without rule and without molestation, gathering whatever is in their way, and consuming everything, so the Jews in great numbers, and without regular military array, would run to and fro collecting the spoils of the Assyrian army. In a country where such devastation was made by the caterpillar and locust as in Palestine, this was a very striking figure. The word rendered 'caterpillar' here חסיל châseyl from חסל châsal to cut off, consume), properly denotes the devourer, and is applied usually to a species of locust. So it is understood here by most of the versions. The Septuagint renders it, 'As if one were gathering locusts, so will they insult you.'
Wesley's Isaiah 33:4 Bible Commentary
33:4 Your spoil - That treasure which you have raked together, by spoiling divers people. Gathered - By the Jews at Jerusalem, when you flee away. Like the caterpillar - As caterpillars gather and devour the fruits of the earth. As locusts - As locusts, especially when they are armed by commission from God, come with great force, and run hither and thither.