Caterpillar

The consumer. Used in the Old Testament (1 Kgs 8:37; 2 Chr 6:28; Ps 78:46; Isa 33:4) as the translation of a word (hasil) the root of which means “to devour” or “consume,” and which is used also with reference to the locust in Deut 28:38. It may have been a species of locust, or the name of one of the transformations through which the locust passes, locust-grub. It is also found (Ps 105:34; Jer 51:14, 27; R.V., “cankerworm”) as the rendering of a different Hebrew word, yelek, a word elsewhere rendered “cankerworm” (q.v.), Joel 1:4; 2:25.