Isaiah 33:4

4 Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.

Isaiah 33:4 in Other Translations

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.

ESV

4 and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.

NLT

4 Just as caterpillars and locusts strip the fields and vines, so the fallen army of Assyria will be stripped!

MSG

4 Your people, for a change, got in on the loot, picking the field clean of the enemy spoils.

CSB

4 Your spoil will be gathered as locusts are gathered; people will swarm over it like an infestation of locusts.

Isaiah 33:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 33:4

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, ( Revelation 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 ( Revelation 9:3 Revelation 9:4 ) 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Isaiah 33:4 In-Context

2 LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.

3 At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.

4 Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.

5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness.

6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.

Cross References 3

1. S Numbers 14:3; S 2 Kings 7:16
2. S Isaiah 17:5; Joel 3:13
3. Joel 1:4