Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV And Your plunder shall be gathered Like the gathering of the caterpillar; As the running to and fro of locusts, He shall run upon them.
- NASB Your plunder is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; Like an infestation of locusts, people storm it.
- NLT Just as caterpillars and locusts strip the fields and vines, so the fallen army of Assyria will be stripped!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The enemy's plunder will be gathered up swiftly, as locusts swarm and leap upon it. It matters because the spoils of the defeated oppressor pass to God's people.
Overview
Following the enemy's rout, Isaiah pictures the gathering of their abandoned plunder, swift and thorough like swarming locusts. The reversal turns the oppressor's spoil into the people's gain. It dramatizes God's complete victory and the way He turns the schemes of the wicked to the good of His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Joel 2:25I will repay you for the years eaten by locusts—the swarming locust, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust—My great army that I sent against you.
- 2 Chr 14:13Then Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. The Cushites fell and could not recover, for they were crushed before the LORD and His army. So the people of Judah carried off a great amount of plunder
- 2 Chr 20:25Then Jehoshaphat and his people went to carry off the plunder, and they found on the bodies an abundance of goods and valuables—more than they could carry away. They were gathering the plunder for three days because there was so much.
- Isa 33:23Your ropes are slack; they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided, and even the lame will carry off plunder.
- Joel 2:9They storm the city; they run along the wall; they climb into houses, entering through windows like thieves.
- 2 Kgs 7:15–16And they tracked them as far as the Jordan, and indeed, the whole way was littered with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown off in haste. So the scouts returned and told the king.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 33:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.