New International Version
Joel 2:4
4They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry.
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.
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)They look like horses; they charge forward like warhorses.
Context of Joel 2:4
2a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come. 3Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste— nothing escapes them. They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. 5With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. 6At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; 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
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