Psalms 105:34

34. Locusts… caterpillars These words must signify either different species of the locust family, or different stages of their propagation. The former seems quite probable, for the larva, or unwinged locust, does not fly, and could not be brought in by a “wind.” In Exodus 10:0, only the ארבה , ( arbeh, the common name for locust,) is mentioned, while in the text the arbeh and ילק , yelek, and in the parallel place, (Psalms 78:46,) the arbah and חסיל , hhaseel, are named. But neither yelek nor hhaseel is ever translated “locust” in our English Version, but the former always “caterpillar,” and the latter either canker-worm or caterpillar. The distinction is seen Joel 1:4: “That which the ‘locust’ ( arbeh) hath left hath the canker-worm ( yelek) eaten, and that which the yelek hath left hath the ‘caterpillar’ ( hhaseel) eaten.” These words may be used, in the text and Psalms 78:46, interchangeably for greater variety of diction, but it would rather seem, upon a comparison of all the places where they occur, that they denote different species of “locust,” which have not yet been clearly identified. This idea greatly aggravates the features of the judgment upon Pharaoh, as leaving the land absolutely waste and barren in their track.