Joel 2:4

Good News Translation

They look like horses; they run like war-horses.

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.

Contemporary English Version
They look like horses and charge like cavalry.

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;

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 Blow the trumpet; sound the alarm on Zion, God's sacred hill. Tremble, people of Judah! The day of the Lord is coming soon. ² It will be a dark and gloomy day, a black and cloudy day. The great army of locusts advances like darkness spreading over the mountains. There has never been anything like it, and there never will be again. ³ Like fire they eat up the plants. In front of them the land is like the Garden of Eden, but behind them it is a barren desert. Nothing escapes them. ⁴ They look like horses; they run like war-horses. ⁵ As they leap on the tops of the mountains, they rattle like chariots; they crackle like dry grass on fire. They are lined up like a great army ready for battle. ⁶ As they approach, everyone is terrified; every face turns pale. ⁷ They attack like warriors; they climb the walls like soldiers. They all keep marching straight ahead and do not change direction ⁸ or get in each other's way. They swarm through defenses, and nothing can stop them. ⁹ They rush against the city; they run over the walls; they climb up the houses and go in through the windows like thieves. ¹⁰ The earth shakes as they advance; the sky trembles. The sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine.

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, when God created the universe,

Genesis 1:4
God was pleased with what he saw. Then he separated the light from the darkness,

Genesis 1:28
blessed them, and said, "Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals.

Genesis 1:31
God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased. Evening passed and morning came—that was the sixth day.

Genesis 2:1
And so the whole universe was completed.

Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God finished what he had been doing and stopped working.

Genesis 5:1
This is the list of the descendants of Adam. (When God created human beings, he made them like himself.

Genesis 10:1
These are the descendants of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. These three had sons after the flood.

Genesis 11:10
These are the descendants of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he had a son, Arpachshad.

Genesis 25:12
Ishmael, whom Hagar, the Egyptian slave of Sarah, bore to Abraham,

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.