Joel 2:4

Green's Literal Translation

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

Parallel Translations

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Lexham English Bible
Like the appearance of horses is their appearance, and like horsemen 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.

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

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.

Contextual Overview

¹ Blow a ram's horn in Zion, and shout an alarm in My holy mountain. Let all those living in the land tremble. For the day of Jehovah approaches; it is near, ² a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spread out on the mountains, a great and a strong people. There has never been the like, nor shall there ever be again to the years of many generations; ³ a fire devours before it, and a flame burns behind it. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them is a desolate wilderness; yea, also there is no escape to them. ⁴ Their appearance is like horses; and as horsemen, so they run. ⁵ They shall leap like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, like the noise of flames of fire that devour the chaff, as a strong people set in order for battle. ⁶ Before their face, the people shall be pained; all faces collect heat. ⁷ They shall run as mighty ones; they shall go up the wall as men of war. And they each go on his way, and they do not change their paths. ⁸ And each does not press his brother; they each go in his paths. And if they fall behind their weapon, they shall not be cut off. ⁹ They shall rush on the city; they shall run on the wall; they shall climb up on the houses; they shall enter in by the windows, like a thief. ¹⁰ The earth shall quake before them, the heavens shall shake. The sun and moon shall grow dark, and the stars shall gather in their light.

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
And God saw the light, that it was good, and God separated between the light and darkness.

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the seas, and over birds of the heavens, and over all beasts creeping on the earth.

Genesis 1:31
And God saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day.

Genesis 2:1
And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their host.

Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.

Genesis 5:1
This is the book of the generations of Adam: In the day that God created man. He made him in the likeness of God.

Genesis 10:1
And these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.

Genesis 11:10
These are the generations of Shem: Shem was a son of a hundred years and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood.

Genesis 25:12
And these are the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, the slave-girl 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.