Isaiah 33:4

Isa 33:4 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.

Ver. 4. And your spoils shall be gathered.] The spoil of the Assyrian’s camp now become yours. {as 1Sa 30:20}

Like the gathering of caterpillars.] Quae ad hominum concursum omnes repente disperguntur, which are soon rid, when men set themselves to destroy them.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye that as caterpillars destroyed with your number the whole world, shall have no strength to resist your enemies the Chaldeans: but shall be gathered on an heap and destroyed.

Meaning, the Medes and Persians against the Chaldeans.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The invaders' "spoil" shall be left behind by them in their flight, and the Jews shall gather it.

caterpillar--rather, "the wingless locust"; as it gathers; the Hebrew word for "gathers" is properly used of the gathering of the fruits of harvest (Isa 32:10).

running to and fro--namely, in gathering harvest fruits.

he--rather, "they."

them--rather, "it," that is, the prey.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(4) Your spoil . . .—The words are addressed to the invader. He who came to spoil should find himself spoiled. As caterpillars and locusts devour the green herbage, so should he (or they, the indefinite pronoun standing for the people of Jerusalem) strip his camp of all its treasures.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. like the gathering of the caterpillar] i.e. “as the caterpillar gathers.” The last word (meaning “devourer”) is one of many names for the locust. It is sometimes taken as gen. of obj. (“as men gather locusts”), the creature being an article of diet among the poorer classes in the East; but this is opposed to the next clause. On the “running” of the locust, see Joe_2:9, where the same verb is employed. The locusts in the figure represent the Israelites (Isa_33:23).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar,.... This is the answer of the Lord to the prayer of his church, signifying that their enemies should flee, be scattered, and perish, and that they should be victorious, and enjoy the spoils of them; which they should gather as easily as the caterpillar or locust, as some render it, gathers and consumes herbs, and every green thing; or as easily as they are gathered, and laid on heaps, being weak and unable to defend themselves: most understand it of the Jews going into the camp of the Assyrians, after the destruction of them by the angel, and gathering their spoil. The Targum is,

"and the house of Israel shall gather the substance of the people, their enemies, as they gather a locust:''

the antichristian locusts or caterpillars are here meant, whose substance shall fall into the hands of the followers of Christ, when they shall have got the victory of them; this is the flesh of the whore, her worldly substance, which the kings of the earth, the Christian kings, shall eat or enjoy, Rev 17:16,

as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them: or "upon it"; the spoil; as these locusts, of which see Rev 9:3 run to and fro, and pillaged them in times past, as the creatures, to whom they are compared, run to and fro and destroy the fruits of the earth, so now everyone of the followers of Christ shall run and seize upon the spoil of the antichristian states.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And your spoil - The booty that the Assyrian army bad gathered in their march toward Jerusalem, and which would now be left by them to be collected by the Jews.

Shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar - The grammatical construction here is such that this may admit of two interpretations. It may either mean, as the caterpillar or the locust is gathered; or it may mean, as the caterpillar gathers its spoil. It often occurred that in countries where the locust was an article of food, they were scraped together in large quantities, and thrown into ditches, or into reservoirs, and retained to be eaten. This is the custom in some parts of Africa. But the meaning here is, undoubtedly, that the plunder of the Assyrian army would be collected by the Jews, as the locust gathered its food. The sense is, that as locusts spread themselves out over a land, as they go to and fro without rule and without molestation, gathering whatever is in their way, and consuming everything, so the Jews in great numbers, and without regular military array, would run to and fro collecting the spoils of the Assyrian army. In a country where such devastation was made by the caterpillar and locust as in Palestine, this was a very striking figure. The word rendered ‘caterpillar’ here חסיל châseyl from חסל châsal to cut off, consume), properly denotes the devourer, and is applied usually to a species of locust. So it is understood here by most of the versions. The Septuagint renders it, ‘As if one were gathering locusts, so will they insult you.’

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Them. The neglect of burying these insects has often brought on the plague. (St. Augustine, City of God iii. 31.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Your spoil, that treasure which you have raked together by spoiling divers people,

shall be gathered by the Jews at Jerusalem, when you shall be forced to flee away with all possible speed, leaving your spoils behind you.

Like the gathering of the caterpillar; either,

1. Passively, with as much ease, and in as great numbers, as caterpillars are gathered and destroyed. Or rather,

2. Actively, as appears from the next clause; as caterpillars or locusts (for the word signifies either) gather and devour all the fruits of the earth; which was a common plague in those countries.

As the running to and fro of locusts; as locusts, especially when they are sent and armed by commission from God, come with great force, and run hither and thither, devouring all the fruits of the earth, wheresoever they find them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Your spoil shall be gathered. The "spoiling" of Assyria would commence with the discomfiture of the great host. In the historical narrative (2Ki_19:35 Isa_37:36) nothing is said of it; but, beyond a doubt, when the host was to a largo extent destroyed, and the remainder fled, there must have been an enormous booty left behind, which the enemies of the Assyrians would naturally seize. A further spoiling of the fugitives probably followed; and, the prestige of the great king being gone, marauding bands would probably on all sides ravage the Assyrian territory. Like the gathering of the caterpillar. The "caterpillar" (khasil) is probably the grub out of which the locust develops a very destructive insect. Shall he run. It would be better to render, shall they run. The word, indeed, is in the singular; but it is used distributively, of the various spoilers.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Your spoil - That treasure which you have raked together, by spoiling divers people. Gathered - By the Jews at Jerusalem, when you flee away. Like the caterpillar - As caterpillars gather and devour the fruits of the earth. As locusts - As locusts, especially when they are armed by commission from God, come with great force, and run hither and thither.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“And your spoil shall be gathered (like) the gathering of the devourer; like the running of locusts running on it.” By another apostrophe, the Prophet here addresses the enemy collectively. The word translated devourer is a descriptive name of the locust. (See the verb in Deu 28:38) As locusts gather, (i.e., greedily and thoroughly, not leaving a tree or a field till they have stripped it). The construction of the last clause is: ‘like the running of locusts (shall one be) running on it (i.e., on the spoil)’. The verb denotes specifically the act of running eagerly or with a view to satisfy the appetite. It is sometimes used to denote desire itself.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And your booty shall be gathered This refers back to “when you finish dealing treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you,” and your booty, you, who spoil My people, when your reckoning comes, the remnant of My people shall plunder you and gather your booty like the gathering of locusts, each one of whom gathers grain for himself in summer; here too, each one will plunder for himself.

like the roaring of the cisterns Like the sound of the roar of water gathering and falling into the cisterns in the river, so will those coming to plunder and pillage, roar. מַשַּׁק is an expression of roaring. Comp. (Prov. 28:15) “A roaring lion and a growling (שׁוֹקֵק) bear.” Also (Zeph. 2:9), “The noise (מִמְשַׁק) of the thorns.” When the wind blows on the thorns, and they knock against one another, they produce a sound. Comp. also, (Joel 2:9) “In the city they roar (יָשֹׁקּוּ).”

cisterns (גֵּבִים) like (supra 30: 14) “or to scoop water from a cistern (מִגֶּבֶא).” Our Sages expounded it in the Aggadah of Chapter Chelek (San. 94b) as referring to the booty of Sennacherib’s soldiers.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Your spoil. Those of you that have become a spoil of the nations; the possessive pronoun your refers to the Israelites, of whom the king of Assyria carried a part away into captivity.

גבים Locusts. Comp. גובא in Chaldee, meaning the same as ארבה locusts in Hebrew.

שוקק Gathering. Some think that משק the steward (Gen. 15:2) is of the same root. I compare it rather with ישתקשקון they gather themselves (Nah. 2:5), which expression is likewise used of locusts.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.