A frequent misinterpretation literalizes the claim of no such locusts 'before them' or 'after them' as a universal historical or scientific absolute, ignoring its hyperbolic rhetoric common in ancient texts to emphasize the plague's unparalleled severity from the perspective of the Egyptians and Israelites within their context; another error detaches it from the narrative of God's targeted judgment for covenant deliverance, reducing it to a random natural calamity or pretext for denying modern locust swarms like those in Africa.
Exodus 10:14
King James Version (1769)
14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.
This verse describes the eighth plague on Egypt, where locusts covered the entire land in unprecedented numbers and devastation, surpassing any before or after, to underscore God's sovereign power in judging Pharaoh's stubborn refusal to release the Israelites and compelling obedience through escalating judgments that stripped the land of its produce and demonstrated divine authority over creation.