CATERPILLAR

[Heb., ga·zamʹ].

The larval stage of butterflies or moths. The Hebrew word ga·zamʹ is thought to be derived from a root meaning “cut.” In numbers, caterpillars, like locusts, literally cut or shear away the leaves of vegetation piece by piece, leaf by leaf, until the plant is almost denuded of its greenery. (Joe 1:4; 2:25; Am 4:9) While the traditional view is that the Hebrew term ga·zamʹ signifies “locust,” the translators of the Septuagint used the Greek word kamʹpe, meaning caterpillar. Also, Koehler and Baumgartner favor translating ga·zamʹ as caterpillar. (Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, Leiden, 1958, p. 178) It is thus rendered, at Joel 1:4; 2:25, in the translation by Isaac Leeser and in the New World Translation; “palmerworm” in the King James Version; “shearer” in An American Translation.

Caterpillars are almost exclusively vegetarian. Their appetites are voracious, some caterpillars consuming twice their own weight of greenery in a day. Hence, in large numbers they cause no little damage to vegetation.