Hebrew word · H1462

גֹּבַי

goyai

locust

Locusts, used as a group noun for a swarm. Biblical Hebrew has around nine words for locusts and similar insects (ʾarbeh, yeleq, ḥasil, gazam, ḥagav and others). Some may name species or growth stages, but we can no longer tell them apart with certainty.

Appears 3 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

locusts, symbol of Yahweh's judgment on Isr. ; in sim. of disappearance of Assyrian leaders at destruction of Nineveh

Also means: gov (גּוֹב "locust" H1462A)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Amos 7:1

Range of meaning

Locusts, used as a group noun for a swarm. Biblical Hebrew has around nine words for locusts and similar insects (ʾarbeh, yeleq, ḥasil, gazam, ḥagav and others). Some may name species or growth stages, but we can no longer tell them apart with certainty. Govay and its relative gov appear only here and in Nahum 3:17 ("gov govay," a dense cloud of locusts settling on walls on a cold day).

Against the English

KJV "grasshoppers" calls up a single, mostly harmless field insect. Modern versions say "locusts" or "swarms of locusts," which is closer to what was meant.

How it drifted

In 1611 English "grasshopper" also covered locusts. Today the word suggests a backyard insect, not a disaster that wipes out crops.

Used elsewhere in the period

Locust swarms (mainly the desert locust) were a feared disaster across the ancient Near East. Treaty curses name them: the Aramaic Sefire treaty (8th century BC, Amos's own time) curses a treaty-breaker with locusts eating for seven years, and Deuteronomy 28:38, 42 lists locusts among the covenant curses. Joel 1–2 describes a plague as an invading army. Some scholars think govay refers specifically to young, wingless hoppers coming out of the ground. That is possible but not proven.

Where it appears

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 7:1 גֹּבַ֔י locusts

    This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up.

    Here: A rare word for locusts, used as a group noun. Its only other use is Nahum 3:17. Here it means a swarm big enough to strip the land (v. 2), not a few insects.

Nahum · 2

  1. Nahum 3:17 כְּג֣וֹב גֹּבָ֑י [are] like a locust of, locusts

    Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where.

    Here: A rarer locust word, in a 'locust of locusts' pairing with the next word.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.