ילק, Psalm cv, 34; Jer. li, 27, where it is rendered
_caterpillar_; Joel i, 4; ii, 25; Nahum iii, 15, _canker-worm_. As it is
frequently mentioned with the locust, it is thought by some to be a
species of that insect. It certainly cannot be the canker-worm, as our
version renders it; for in Nahum, it is expressly said to have wings and
fly, to camp in the hedges by day, and commit its depredations in the
night. But it may be, as the Septuagint renders it in five passages out
of eight where it occurs, the _bruchus_, or “hedge-chaffer.”
Nevertheless, the passage, Jer. li, 27, where the _ialek_ is described
as “rough,” that is, with hair standing on end on it, leads us very
naturally to the rendering of our translators in that place, “the rough
caterpillar,” which, like other caterpillars, at a proper time, casts
its exterior covering and flies away in a winged state. Scheuchzer
observes that we should not, perhaps, be far from the truth, if with the
ancient interpreters, we understood this _ialek_, after all, as a kind
of locust; as some species of them have hair principally on the head,
and others have prickly points standing out.
_caterpillar_; Joel i, 4; ii, 25; Nahum iii, 15, _canker-worm_. As it is
frequently mentioned with the locust, it is thought by some to be a
species of that insect. It certainly cannot be the canker-worm, as our
version renders it; for in Nahum, it is expressly said to have wings and
fly, to camp in the hedges by day, and commit its depredations in the
night. But it may be, as the Septuagint renders it in five passages out
of eight where it occurs, the _bruchus_, or “hedge-chaffer.”
Nevertheless, the passage, Jer. li, 27, where the _ialek_ is described
as “rough,” that is, with hair standing on end on it, leads us very
naturally to the rendering of our translators in that place, “the rough
caterpillar,” which, like other caterpillars, at a proper time, casts
its exterior covering and flies away in a winged state. Scheuchzer
observes that we should not, perhaps, be far from the truth, if with the
ancient interpreters, we understood this _ialek_, after all, as a kind
of locust; as some species of them have hair principally on the head,
and others have prickly points standing out.