Bible Dictionary
Grasshopper
“Grasshopper” is often used in older English Bible translations for insects that are more accurately identified as locusts. These insects appear in biblical descriptions of swarms, plagues, armies, and human smallness.
Definition
“Grasshopper” is an older English rendering for several Hebrew terms referring to insects, but in many passages the more accurate rendering is “locust.” The term belongs to the class of insects identified in the supplied material with the Gryllidae.
Biblical Usage
The passages commonly translated “grasshopper” describe insects associated with locusts. The relevant Hebrew words occur in accounts and images involving swarms, armies, and human smallness.
Historical Background
Grasshoppers or locusts were known in Palestine. Older English versions sometimes used “grasshopper,” while later revisions generally rendered the Hebrew terms “locust.”
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Belongs to the class of neuropterous insects called Gryllidae. This insect is not unknown in Palestine. In Judg. 6:5; 7:12; Job 39:30; Jer. 46:23, where the Authorized Version has “grasshopper,” the Revised Version more correctly renders the Hebrew word (‘arbeh) by “locust.” This is the case also in Amos 7:1; Nah. 3:17, where the Hebrew word gob is used; and in Lev. 11:22; Num. 13:33; Eccl. 12:5; Isa. 40:22, where hagab is used. In all these instances the proper rendering is probably “locust” (q.v.).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
[Locust]
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>gras'-hop-er.</p><p>See LOCUST.</p>