Joel 2:4

Contemporary English Version

They look like horses and charge like cavalry.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Their appearance is like that of horses,and they gallop like war horses.

Hebrew Names Version
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, And as horsemen, so do they run.

King James Version
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

English Standard Version
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run.

New American Standard Bible
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like war horses, so they run.

New Century Version
They look like horses, and they run like war horses.

Amplified Bible
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, And they run like war horses.

Geneva Bible (1587)
The beholding of him is like the sight of horses, & like the horsemen, so shal they runne.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like war horses, so they run.

Legacy Standard Bible
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;And like war horses, so they run.

Berean Standard Bible
Their appearance is like that of horses, and they gallop like swift steeds.

Complete Jewish Bible
They look like horses, and like cavalry they charge.

Darby Translation
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so they run.

Easy-to-Read Version
They look like horses. They run like war horses.

George Lamsa Translation
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and like horsemen so they run;

Good News Translation
They look like horses; they run like war-horses.

Lexham English Bible
Like the appearance of horses is their appearance, and like horsemen they run;

Literal Translation
Their appearance is like horses; and as horsemen, so they run.

American Standard Version
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so do they run.

Bible in Basic English
Their form is like the form of horses, and they are running like war-horses.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so do they run.

King James Version (1611)
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horse men, so shall they runne.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The shewe of him is as the shewe of horses, and like horsemen, so shall they runne.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Their appearance is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they pursue.

English Revised Version
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so do they run.

World English Bible
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, And as horsemen, so do they run.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The lokyng of hem schal be as the lokyng of horsis, and as horse men so thei schulen renne.

Update Bible Version
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so they run.

Webster's Bible Translation
The appearance of them [is] as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

New English Translation
They look like horses; they charge ahead like war horses.

New King James Version
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like swift steeds, so they run.

New Living Translation
They look like horses; they charge forward like warhorses.

New Life Bible
They look like horses. They run like war horses.

New Revised Standard
They have the appearance of horses, and like war-horses they charge.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
As the appearance of horses, is his appearance, and, as war-horses, so, shall they run:

Douay-Rheims Bible
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and they shall run like horsemen.

Revised Standard Version
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run.

Young's Literal Translation
As the appearance of horses [is] its appearance, And as horsemen, so they run.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They are to loke vpon like bayrded horses, & runne like horse men.

THE MESSAGE
The locust army seems all horses— galloping horses, an army of horses. It sounds like thunder leaping on mountain ridges, Or like the roar of wildfire through grass and brush, Or like an invincible army shouting for blood, ready to fight, straining at the bit. At the sight of this army, the people panic, faces white with terror.

Contextual Overview

¹ Sound the trumpet on Zion, the Lord 's sacred hill. Warn everyone to tremble! The judgment day of the Lord is coming soon. ² It will be dark and gloomy with storm clouds overhead. Troops will cover the mountains like thunderclouds. No army this powerful has ever been gathered before or will ever be again. ³ Fiery flames surround them; no one escapes. Before they invaded, the land was like Eden; now only a desert remains. ⁴ They look like horses and charge like cavalry. ⁵ They roar over mountains like noisy chariots, or a mighty army ready for battle. They are a forest fire that feasts on straw. ⁶ The very sight of them is frightening. ⁷ They climb over walls like warriors; they march in columns and never turn aside. ⁸ They charge straight ahead, without pushing each other; even arrows and spears cannot make them retreat. ⁹ They swarm over city walls and enter our homes; they crawl in through windows, just like thieves. ¹⁰ They make the earth tremble and the heavens shake; the sun and moon turn dark, and stars stop shining.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Revelation 9:7

Reciprocal: Isaiah 13:4 - like as Jeremiah 51:14 - as with

Cross-References

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:4
God looked at the light and saw that it was good. He separated light from darkness

Genesis 1:28
God gave them his blessing and said: Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.

Genesis 1:31
God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good! Evening came and then morning—that was the sixth day.

Genesis 2:1
So the heavens and the earth and everything else were created.

Genesis 2:2

The Seventh Day

By the seventh day God had finished his work, and so he rested.

Genesis 5:1
God created men and women to be like himself. He gave them his blessing and called them human beings. This is a list of the descendants of Adam, the first man:

Genesis 10:1
After the flood Shem, Ham, and Japheth had many descendants.

Genesis 11:10
Two years after the flood, when Shem was one hundred, he had a son named Arpachshad. He had more children and died at the age of six hundred. This is a list of his descendants:

Genesis 25:12
Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar, the slave woman of Sarah.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The appearance of them [is] as the appearance of horses,.... in their running, as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; they came with, as much swiftness and eagerness, with as much fierceness and courage, as horses rush into the battle. Bochart h has shown, from various writers, that the head of a locust is in shape like that of a horse; and Theodoret on the text observes, that whoever thoroughly examines the head of a locust will easily perceive that it is very like the head of a horse; see Revelation 9:7. The Chaldeans are often represented as strong and mighty, fierce and furious, and riding on horses exceeding swift, Jeremiah 4:13;

and as horsemen, so shall they run; with great agility and swiftness. The particle "as" is observed by some, against those interpreters that apply this wholly to the enemies of the Jews, and not the locusts; and it seems indeed best to favour them; but Theodoret observes, that the "as" here may be taken, not as a note of similitude, but as used for the increase and vehemency of the expression.

h Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 4. c. 5. p. 474, 475.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The 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 wings of an eagle, the thighs of a camel, the feet of an ostrich, the tail of a serpent.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 4. The 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:

1. The HORSE in its head.

2. The ELEPHANT in its eyes.

3. The BULL in its neck.

4. The STAG in its horns.

5. The LION in its breast.

6. The SCORPION in its belly.

7. The EAGLE in its wings.

8. The CAMEL in its thighs.

9. The OSTRICH in its feet. And

10. The SERPENT in its tail.

Vid. Hieroz., vol. ii., p. 475, edit. 1692.

But its most prominent resemblance is to the horse, which the prophet mentions; and which the Arabic writer puts in the first place, as being the chief.