Joel 2:4

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 will be a day of dreadful darkness, a day of foreboding storm clouds, like blackness spread over the mountains. It is a huge and powerful army – there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! 3Like fire they devour everything in their path; a flame blazes behind them. The land looks like the Garden of Eden before them, but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness – for nothing escapes them! They look like horses; they charge ahead like war horses. 5They sound like chariots rumbling over mountain tops, like the crackling of blazing fire consuming stubble, like the noise of a mighty army being drawn up for battle. 6People writhe in fear when they see them. All of their faces turn pale with fright.

Joel 2:4 word by word

כְּמַרְאֵ֥ה סוּסִ֖ים מַרְאֵ֑הוּ וּכְפָרָשִׁ֖ים כֵּ֥ן יְרוּצֽוּן׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• The appearanceמַרְאֶהmar'eh · appearanceH4758
• of horsesסוּסsûs sûs · horseH5483
• and as horsemenפָּרָשׁpârâsh · horseH6571
• so shall they runרוּץrûts · to run: runH7323

Cross-references for Joel 2:4

• Revelation 9:7Now the locusts looked like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, and their faces looked like men’s faces.

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

• Israel, Prophecies Concerning
• Joel
• War

In the dictionaries

• Darkness
• Fat
• Pour
• Rend
• Reproach
• Thrust
• Eschatology of the Old Testament
• Horse
• Joel (2)
• Locust

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