The Hebrew word gazam refers to a species of locust — possibly the cutting or gnawing locust — one of several locust types used in the prophetic judgment passages of Joel.
Gazam appears in the dramatic opening of Joel's prophecy, where a devastating locust plague strips the land bare as a foretaste of the Day of the LORD. Yet the same God who sends the locusts also promises full restoration: 'I will repay you for the years the gazam has eaten' (Joel 2:25). This is one of the most hope-filled restoration promises in Scripture — God can redeem even years of devastation and loss. The locust metaphor speaks to both divine discipline and divine mercy.