New Living Translation
Joel 2:4
4They look like horses; they charge forward like warhorses.
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 thick clouds and deep blackness. Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains, a great and mighty army appears. Nothing like it has been seen before or will ever be seen again. 3Fire burns in front of them, and flames follow after them. Ahead of them the land lies as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. Behind them is nothing but desolation; not one thing escapes. They look like horses; they charge forward like warhorses. 5Look at them as they leap along the mountaintops. Listen to the noise they make—like the rumbling of chariots, like the roar of fire sweeping across a field of stubble, or like a mighty army moving into battle. 6Fear grips all the people; every face grows pale with terror.
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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