CRICKET

[hhar·golʹ].

A kind of leaping insect related to the grasshopper, though differing from the latter in that it has prominent feelers at the tip of its abdomen. Both the house cricket and the field cricket are to be found in Bible lands. Sole mention is made of this insect at Leviticus 11:22, where it is listed as being clean for food.

A number of Bible translations (AV; Yg) render the Hebrew term hhar·golʹ as “beetle,” the most typical species of which creep rather than jump. But it is generally agreed that the Hebrew word refers to a kind of leaping insect, as indicated by its being listed along with the locust. There is uncertainty, though, as to the exact leaping insect meant. Translators have variously rendered hhar·golʹ as “dropping locust” (Mo); “flying locust” (AT) and “cricket” (AS; NW; RS), and at times the Hebrew word has simply been transliterated.—Da; JB; Le.