God’s Word Translation
Joel 2:4
4The soldiers look like horses. They run like war horses.
Joel 2:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
- New International Version (NIV)They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like swift steeds, so they run.
Context of Joel 2:4
2It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and overcast skies. A large and mighty army will spread over the mountains like the dawn. Nothing like this has ever happened. Nothing like this will ever happen again. 3In front of this army a fire burns. Behind it flames are blazing. In front of it the land is like the garden of Eden. Behind it the land is like a barren desert. Nothing escapes it! The soldiers look like horses. They run like war horses. 5As they leap on mountaintops, they sound like rattling chariots, like crackling fire burning up straw, and like a mighty army prepared for battle. 6People are terrified in their presence. Every face turns pale.
Read all of Joel 2Joel 2:4 word by word
כְּמַרְאֵ֥ה סוּסִ֖ים מַרְאֵ֑הוּ וּכְפָרָשִׁ֖ים כֵּ֥ן יְרוּצֽוּן׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Joel 2:4
Commentaries on Joel 2:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4The appearance of horses - The head of the locust is remarkably like that of the horse; and so Ray on Insects describes them: Caput oblongum, equi instar, prona spectans - "They have an oblong head, like to that of a horse, bending downward." On this account the Italians call them cavaletta, cavalry. Bochart remarks, from an Arabic writer, that the locusts resemble ten different kinds of animals: The Horse in its head. The Elephant in its eyes. The Bull…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4The appearance of them, is as the appearance of horses - “If you carefully consider the head of the locust,” says Theodoret, a Bishop in Syria, “you will find it exceedingly like that of a horse.” Whence the Arabs, of old and to this day, say; “In the locust, slight as it is, is the nature of ten of the larger animals, the face of a horse, the eyes of an elephant, the neck of abull, the horns of a deer, the chest of a lion, the belly of a scorpion, the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4-5Their appearance is like that of horses: The similarity between locusts and horses (see also Revelation 9:7) emphasizes the image of locusts as an army. With a sound like that of chariot: A swarm of locusts can make an extremely loud noise that is hard to endure.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. appearance ... of horses--(Re 9:7). Not literal, but figurative locusts. The fifth trumpet, or first woe, in the parallel passage (Re 9:1-11), cannot be literal: for in Re 9:11 it is said, "they had a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit"--in the Hebrew, Abaddon ("destroyer"), but in the Greek, Apollyon--and (Re 9:7) "on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men." Compare Joe 2:11, "the day of the…Read the comment
Topics related to Joel 2:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Joel 2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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