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The locusts have no king, yet they advance in ranks.
Proverbs 30:27 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;
  • BSB the locusts have no king, yet they all advance in formation;
  • NKJV The locusts have no king, Yet they all advance in ranks;
  • NASB The locusts have no king, Yet all of them go out in ranks;
  • NLT Locusts—they have no king, but they march in formation.

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

Locusts have no king, yet they advance together in orderly ranks.

Overview

Though leaderless, locusts move with remarkable unity and coordination. Their instinctive order illustrates the wisdom of cooperation and disciplined common purpose. It commends harmony and shared effort among God's people, a unity ultimately secured by the one Lord who gathers His church into one body.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 8

  • Joel 1:6–7For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a lioness.
  • Joel 2:25I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you.
  • Joel 2:7–11They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors. They each march in his line, and they don’t swerve off course.
  • Exod 10:4–6Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country,
  • Ps 105:34He spoke, and the locusts came, and the grasshoppers, without number,
  • Joel 1:4What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.
  • Exod 10:13–15Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind on the land all that day, and all night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
  • Rev 9:3–11Then out of the smoke came locusts on the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Proverbs videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Proverbs 30:27YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ProverbsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.

How Proverbs 30:27 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.