Psalms 105:34 Meaning and Explanation
“He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without number,”
King James Version (KJV)
This study note uses an AI-assisted editorial workflow with source, duplication, and quality checks. See how verse explanations are prepared.
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →A swarm of small creatures can seem insignificant until it strips a field bare. This line asks us to see the plague from Israel's side of remembered deliverance: Egypt's strength could not resist the word of the LORD, who acted to bring his oppressed people out.
Psalm 105:34 remembers the locust plague as an act accomplished at God's word. The innumerable insects reveal the LORD's authority over creation and the devastating judgment that fell upon Egypt.
The Context of Psalms 105:34
Psalm 105 is a hymn calling Abraham's descendants to remember the LORD's works, covenant, and judgments. Verses 16-23 recount famine, Joseph's suffering and exaltation, and Israel's arrival in Egypt. Verses 24-38 then compress the conflict between the LORD and Egypt through the signs performed by Moses and Aaron. The verse follows darkness, blood, frogs, flies, lice, hail, fire, and the ruin of vines and trees. Verse 35 immediately states the locusts' effect: they consumed the herbs and fruit of the land. The account moves next to the death of Egypt's firstborn and Israel's departure.
What Does Psalms 105:34 Mean?
The words are spare and weighty: "He spake, and the locusts came." The psalm does not describe a long contest or an uncertain outcome. God's command is followed by the arrival of the plague. "Caterpillers" stands alongside locusts, presenting another consuming creature within the devastation. "Without number" stresses abundance beyond human counting. Egypt had already suffered repeated blows, yet this judgment reaches the food-producing land itself. The following verse explains that herbs and fruit were eaten. Food that had been cultivated through ordinary labor could no longer sustain those who depended on it. The verse therefore joins God's sovereign speech with a concrete judgment felt in fields, homes, and daily bread.
Within Psalm 105, the plague account serves the larger purpose of covenant remembrance. The LORD had promised land to Abraham's offspring when they were few and vulnerable. Israel's later bondage in Egypt did not erase that promise. God sent Moses and Aaron, displayed signs, and broke the power holding his people. The locusts belong to this sequence of deliverance. They also show that the created order answers to its Maker. Land, crops, insects, darkness, and water all appear in the psalm as things over which the LORD has command. Israel is invited to remember these acts with gratitude, humility, and confidence in the God whose judgments are in all the earth.
The Exodus plague tradition also gives later Scripture a pattern for speaking about the day of the LORD. The prophet Joel uses locust devastation to summon God's people to lament, return, and seek him. That later use does not reduce the historical judgment remembered here. Rather, it shows why this event remained spiritually searching: abundance can be removed, human security can fail, and God's voice calls for a response. Psalm 105 holds judgment together with rescue. The same chapter soon tells of Israel being brought forth with joy. For Christians, the Exodus pattern also deepens gratitude for Christ, whose saving work is presented in the light of Passover and deliverance from bondage.
Bible Verses Related to Psalms 105:34
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.”
- Exodus 10:12
“For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.”
- Exodus 10:15
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.”
- Joel 2:25
“Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.”
- Deuteronomy 28:38
How to Apply Psalms 105:34 Today
This verse gives us language for receiving ordinary provision with reverence. Fields, work, harvests, stored food, and the systems that bring bread to a table are gifts sustained under God's rule. When loss touches those things, Psalm 105 does not invite shallow explanations for every hardship. It does invite honest dependence on the LORD and remembrance of his mighty works. Communities can respond by giving thanks for provision, caring for those whose livelihood has been damaged, and refusing the illusion that human planning alone guarantees abundance. In seasons of plenty, gratitude can become a practiced form of humility.
Reflection & Prayer
Where have we treated daily provision as though it were secure by our own strength? Consider one ordinary gift of food, work, or shelter that calls forth gratitude today. Pray: "Lord, teach us to receive thy gifts thankfully, to remember thy mighty works, and to trust thee when our securities are shaken."