Bible Dictionary: Insects

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

INSECTS

in'-sekts: In English Versions of the Bible, including the marginal notes, we find at least 23 names of insects or words referring to them: ant, bald locust, bee, beetle, cankerworm, caterpillar, creeping thing, cricket, crimson, flea, fly, gnat, grasshopper, honey, hornet, locust, louse, (lice), moth, palmer-worm, sandfly, scarlet-worm, silk-worm. These can be referred to about 12 insects, which, arranged systematically, are: Hymenoptera, ant, bee, hornet; Lepidoptera, clothes-moth, silk-worm; Siphonaptera, flea; Diptera, fly; Rhynchota, louse, scarletworm; Orthoptera, several kinds of grasshoppers and locusts.

The word "worm" refers not only to the scarletworm, but to various larvae of Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Diptera. "Creeping things" refers indefinitely to insects, reptiles, and beasts. In the list of 23 names given above honey and bee refer to one insect, as do crimson and scarlet. Sandfly has no place if "lice" be retained in Exodus 8:16. Bald locust, beetle, canker-worm, cricket, and palmerworm probably all denote various kinds of grasshoppers and locusts. When the translators of English Versions of the Bible had to do with two or more Hebrew words for which there was only one well-recognized English equivalent, they seem to have been content with that alone, if the two Hebrew words occurred in different passages; e.g. zebhubh, "fly" (Ecclesiastes 10:1 Isaiah 7:18), and `arobh, "fly" (Exodus 8:21). On the other hand, they were put to it to find equivalents for the insect names in Leviticus 11:22 Joel 1:4, and elsewhere. For cale'am (Leviticus 11:22) they evidently coined "bald locust," following a statement of the Talmud that it had a smooth head. For gazam and yeleq they imported "palmer-worm" and "canker-worm," two old English names of caterpillars, using "caterpillar" for chasil. The King James Version "beetle" for chargol is absolutely inappropriate, and the Revised Version (British and American) "cricket," while less objectionable, is probably also incorrect. The English language seems to lack appropriate names for different kinds of grasshoppers and locusts, and it is difficult to suggest any names to take the places of those against which these criticisms are directed. See under the names of the respective insects. See also SCORPION and SPIDER, which are not included here because they are not strictly insects.

Alfred Ely Day

Strong's Hebrew

8318. sherets -- swarmers, swarming things
... Word Origin from sharats Definition swarmers, swarming things NASB Word Usage insects
(3), swarming thing (3), swarming things (5), swarms (1), teeming life (2 ...
/hebrew/8318.htm - 6k

Library

A Cultivated Conservative Friend of Mine once Exhibited Great ...
... They used the ant for industry as the lark for punctuality; they looked up at the
flapping birds and down at the crawling insects for a homely lesson. ...
/.../chesterton/whats wrong with the world/chapter 42 a cultivated conservative.htm

The Doxology
... He had been looking round, too, on this wonderful earth, with its countless beasts,
and birds, and insects, trees, herbs, and flowers, each growing, and ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/kingsley/sermons for the times/sermon x the doxology.htm

Leviticus
... Laws concerning the animals which may or may not be eaten"quadrupeds, fish, birds,
flying insects, creeping insects, reptiles"and pollution through contact ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/mcfadyen/introduction to the old testament/leviticus.htm

Of the Three Woe Trumpets.
... field through all the land of Egypt." But our locusts afflicted the very men, and
from hence it is apparent that they were not of the genus of insects, that is ...
/.../mede/a key to the apocalypse/of the three woe trumpets.htm

How Holy Love Returning into the Soul, Brings Back to Life all the ...
... I never saw, read, or heard, that wasps, gadflies, flies, and such little noxious
insects when once dead could come to life and rise again, but that the dear ...
/.../francis/treatise on the love of god/chapter xii how holy love.htm

Death.
... animals goes on. The hawk feeds on the small birds, the small birds on the
insects, the insects, many of them, on each other. Even our ...
//christianbookshelf.org/kingsley/westminster sermons/sermon xviii death.htm

The Treasure Cave
... When they were all within he closed the entrance and unrolled the reeds. There was
a helter-skelter of mice past them and a rustle of retiring insects. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/miller/the yoke/chapter xx the treasure cave.htm

Ephesians i. 15-20
... this is said of Him that was raised from the dead which is worthy of our admiration;
for of God the Word, it cannot possibly be, because what insects are in ...
/.../homily iii ephesians i 15-20.htm

Historical Criticism of Mediæval Amplifications.
... of the new-born babe that cleared him from calumny"the crowned phantom on the walls
of Nisibis that scared the besiegers"the plague of insects that drove ...
/.../v historical criticism of mediaeval amplifications.htm

The Immutability of God
... He may be a naturalist, boasting of his ability to dissect a beetle, anatomize a
fly, or arrange insects and animals in classes with well nigh unutterable names ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 1 1855/the immutability of god.htm

Thesaurus

Insects (17 Occurrences)
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia INSECTS. in'-sekts ... Diptera. "Creeping things"
refers indefinitely to insects, reptiles, and beasts. In ...
/i/insects.htm - 14k

Locust (25 Occurrences)
... "The legs and thighs of these insects are so powerful that they can leap
to a height of two hundred times the length of their bodies. ...
/l/locust.htm - 34k

Moth (10 Occurrences)
... 4. (n.) Any one of various other insects that destroy woolen and fur goods, etc.,
esp. ... See INSECTS. Alfred Ely Day. Multi-Version Concordance ...
/m/moth.htm - 13k

Fly (33 Occurrences)
... Hebrews `arob, the name given to the insects sent as a plague on the land
of Egypt (Exodus 8:21-31; Psalm 78:45; 105:31). The LXX. ...
/f/fly.htm - 26k

Insect (6 Occurrences)
... invertebrates. 4. (n.) Fig.: Any small, trivial, or contemptible person or
thing. 5. (a.) of or pertaining to an insect or insects. 6 ...
/i/insect.htm - 8k

Flies (16 Occurrences)
... swarms of flies"; in Psalm 78:45, "He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured
them." There has been much speculation as to what the insects were, but ...
/f/flies.htm - 15k

Zoology
... Gecko, Chameleon, Land Crocodile, Sand Lizard (sv LIZARD) Amphibians: Frog Fishes:
Fish (in general) Mollusks: Snail, Murex (Purple) Insects: HYMENOPTERA: Ant ...
/z/zoology.htm - 18k

Lice (4 Occurrences)
... "The entomologists Kirby and Spence place these minute but disgusting insects
in the very front rank of those which inflict injury upon man. ...
/l/lice.htm - 10k

Wonder-workers (16 Occurrences)
... (BBE). Exodus 8:18 And the wonder-workers with their secret arts, attempting to
make insects, were unable to do so: and there were insects on man and on beast. ...
/w/wonder-workers.htm - 12k

Fig-tree (33 Occurrences)
... The immature flowers harbor small insects which convey pollen to the female flowers
and by their irritating presence stimulate the growth of the fruit. ...
/f/fig-tree.htm - 26k

Bible Concordance

Insects (17 Occurrences)

James 5:2 Your wealth is unclean and insects have made holes in your clothing.
(BBE)

Exodus 8:16 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let your rod be stretched out over the dust of the earth so that it may become insects through all the land of Egypt.
(BBE)

Exodus 8:17 And they did so; and Aaron, stretching out the rod in his hand, gave a touch to the dust of the earth, and insects came on man and on beast; all the dust of the earth was changed into insects through all the land of Egypt.
(BBE)

Exodus 8:18 And the wonder-workers with their secret arts, attempting to make insects, were unable to do so: and there were insects on man and on beast.
(BBE)

Exodus 8:21 for, if thou art not sending My people away, lo, I am sending against thee, and against thy servants, and against thy people, and against thy houses, the beetle, and the houses of the Egyptians have been full of the beetle, and also the ground on which they are.
(See NAS)

Exodus 8:22 I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end you may know that I am Yahweh in the midst of the earth.
(See NAS)

Exodus 8:24 Yahweh did so; and there came grievous swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses: and in all the land of Egypt the land was corrupted by reason of the swarms of flies.
(See NAS)

Exodus 8:31 Yahweh did according to the word of Moses, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. There remained not one.
(See NAS)

Leviticus 11:20 "'All flying insects that walk on all fours are an abomination to you.
(WEB NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 11:21 Yet you may eat these: of all winged creeping things that go on all fours, which have legs above their feet, with which to hop on the earth.
(See NAS RSV)

Leviticus 11:23 But all winged creeping things which have four feet, are an abomination to you.
(See NAS RSV)

Numbers 13:33 There we saw those great men, the sons of Anak, offspring of the Nephilim: and we seemed to ourselves no more than insects, and so we seemed to them.
(BBE)

Deuteronomy 14:19 All winged creeping things are unclean to you: they shall not be eaten.
(See RSV NIV)

Psalms 105:31 He gave the word, and there came the dog-fly, and insects over all the land.
(BBE)

Psalms 148:10 Beasts and all cattle; insects and winged birds:
(BBE)

Isaiah 51:6 Let your eyes be lifted up to the heavens, and turned to the earth which is under them: for the heavens will go in flight like smoke, and the earth will become old like a coat, and its people will come to destruction like insects: but my salvation will be for ever, and my righteousness will not come to an end.
(BBE)

Nahum 3:17 Your crowned ones are like the locusts, and your scribes like the clouds of insects which take cover in the walls on a cold day, but when the sun comes up they go in flight, and are seen no longer in their place.
(BBE)

Subtopics

Insects: Clean and Unclean (Ceremonially Speaking)

Insects: Created by God

Insects: Divided Into: Clean and Fit for Food

Insects: Divided Into: Unclean and Abominable