"Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."
The Jewish Bible renders the passage in almost exactly the same manner: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; see her ways, and be wise:
"Which having no captain, bailiff, or ruler,
"Provideth her bread in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."
The second passage is of a similar character: "There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer."
It has been objected to these passages that the Ant is a carnivorous insect, and therefore could not gather her food in the harvest, and that the very nature of that food would prevent it from being laid up in store. The objectors thought that the sacred writer had been deceived by appearances, and had mistaken the white cocoon of the ant-pupæ (popularly called ant-eggs among ourselves) for grains of corn which they were storing away for future use.
Those who took the other side of the question answered that, in the first place, it was necessary to be sure of the real translation of the word which is rendered as "ant" in the Authorized Version; and that, in the second place, the Ants of a warm country like Palestine might have different habits from those which inhabit the comparatively cold and changeable climate of England.
As to the first point, there is no doubt that the rendering is the right one, and that the word nemâlah is correctly translated as "ant." The Jewish Bible employs the word "ant," and does not add the mark of doubt. Buxtorf, in his "Hebrew Lexicon," translates it as "formica," and derives it from a root which signifies "to eat," because it eat the seeds which it conveys to its dwelling. The lexicographer here alludes to a belief that when the Ant carries a grain of corn into its home, it bites off the germ, so as to prevent it from sprouting.
In Palestine Ants abound, and the species are tolerably numerous. Among them are found some species which do convey seeds into their subterranean home; and if their stores should be wetted by the heavy rains which sometimes prevail in that country, bring them to the outer air, as soon as the weather clears up, and dry them in the sun.