Worm: (1.) Heb. sas (Isa. 51:8), denotes the caterpillar of the
clothes-moth.
(2.) The manna bred worms (tola'im), but on the Sabbath there
was not any worm (rimmah) therein (Ex. 16:20, 24). Here these
words refer to caterpillars or larvae, which feed on corrupting
matter.
These two Hebrew words appear to be interchangeable (Job 25:6;
Isa. 14:11). Tola'im in some places denotes the caterpillar
(Deut. 28:39; Jonah 4:7), and rimmah, the larvae, as bred from
putridity (Job 17:14; 21:26; 24:20). In Micah 7:17, where it is
said, "They shall move out of their holes like worms," perhaps
serpents or "creeping things," or as in the Revised Version,
"crawling things," are meant.
The word is used figuratively in Job 25:6; Ps. 22:6; Isa.
41:14; Mark 9:44, 46, 48; Isa. 66:24.