Proverbs 30:27
in Proverbs 30the locusts have no king, yet they all advance in formation;
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The locusts have no king, Yet go they forth all of them by bands;
KJV
The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;
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This verse in Proverbs 30
Commentary
9 notes on this verseI do not quote these words, however, as taking them in their literal signification, but, agreeably to the title of the book (for it is entitled "Proverbs"), I investigate them as containing a secret meaning.
This site's exposition
There be four things which are little upon the earth
on Proverbs 30:24-28
The fourth numerical saying turns from disorder to a gallery of small creatures exceeding wise: ants preparing their food without strength, conies making houses in the rocks without power, locusts marching in ranks without a king, and the spider that takes hold with her hands in king's palaces. Each creature compensates for one lack, strength, safety, leadership, or standing, with a single skill used well, and the bench reads the list as instruction by observation rather than allegory forced onto nature. The spider's presence in a king's palace closes the list on the same reversal theme running through the chapter, the small and unregarded reaching the great house by its own diligence.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Although the locusts do not have a king, as Scripture says, "He marches the well-ordered army in one line," but people, although they have been made rational by God, have been able neither to rule themselves orderly nor to endure patiently the control of God as king.
A commentator
Hippolytus of RomeFragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Proverbs · Written before 235.
proposed
"The locust has no king, and yet marches out in array as by one command." The Gentiles had no king, for they were ruled by sin; but now, believing God, they engage in the heavenly warfare.
"Although the locust has no king," as Scripture says, "he leads his army all in array"; but people who have been created rational neither know how to govern themselves nor how to endure with patience the guidance of their king and God.
The Medieval Church1 voice
The locusts have no king, etc. Some interpret the locust as the people of the Gentiles, who once existed without a king, that is, without Christ, without a prophet, without a teacher, and now gathered into the unity of faith, they hurry to a spiritual …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The locusts have no king,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Compare Joe 2:7-8; the most striking fact in the flight of the locust-swarms was their apparent order and discipline, sweeping over the land like the invasion of a great army.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
By the first (Pr 30:25-28), diligence and providence are commended; the success of these insignificant animals being due to their instinctive sagacity and activity, rather than strength. The other class (Pr 30:30, 31) provides similes for whatever is majestic or comely, uniting efficiency with gracefulness.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֶ֭לֶךְ | melekh | a king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| אֵ֣ין | ʾein | not | H369 → | 789 times |
| לָאַרְבֶּ֑ה | laarbeh | [belongs] to the locust | H697 → | |
| וַיֵּצֵ֖א | vaiyetze' | and it went out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| חֹצֵ֣ץ | chotzetz | dividing | H2686 → | |
| כֻּלּֽוֹ׃ | kulo | all of it | H3605 → | 5413 times |
מֶ֭לֶךְa king
melekhH4428 →2525 times
אֵ֣יןnot
ʾeinH369 →789 times
לָאַרְבֶּ֑ה[belongs] to the locust
laarbehH697 →
וַיֵּצֵ֖אand it went out
vaiyetze'H3318 →1067 times
חֹצֵ֣ץdividing
chotzetzH2686 →
כֻּלּֽוֹ׃all of it
kuloH3605 →5413 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
7 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
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.
it leads to
- Zechariah 10:6
I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them, and they will be as though I had not rejected them.…
- Joel 1:4–7
What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Joel 2:2–11
a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be…
- Zechariah 10:6
Through
Psalms 105:34He spoke, and the locusts came— young locusts without number.
it leads to
- Exodus 10:12–15
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may swarm over it and devour every plant in the land—everything that the hail has…
- Joel 2:25
I 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.
- Psalms 78:46
He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust.
- Revelation 9:3–10
And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.
- Exodus 10:12–15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 99:2; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Hippolytus of Rome, Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Proverbs; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Origen of Alexandria, AGAINST CELSUS 4:87 and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EXODUS 4:7.