Joel 2:4

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible

As the appearance of horses, is his appearance, and, as war-horses, so, shall 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;

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;

Literal Translation
Their appearance is like horses; and as horsemen, so 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 ye a horn in Zion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land, tremble, - for coming is the day of Yahweh, for it is near! - ² A day of obscurity and deep gloom, a day of cloud, and thick darkness, as dusk, spread over the mountains, - a people, many and bold, like whom, hath not been from age-past times, and, after whom, shall not be again unto the years of generation after generation. ³ Before him, hath a fire, devoured, and, after him, shall a flame, consume, - As the garden of Eden, is the land before him, but, after him, a desert most desolate, Moreover also, escape, giveth he none. ⁴ As the appearance of horses, is his appearance, and, as war-horses, so, shall they run: ⁵ Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, shall they rattle along, like the noise of a flame of fire, devouring dry straw, - like a people bold, arrayed for battle. ⁶ Because of him, shall peoples', be in anguish, - all faces, have withdrawn their colour. ⁷ Like heroes, shall they run, like men of war, shall they mount a wall, - and, every one - along his own road, shall they march along, and shall not change their paths; ⁸ Nor, against each other, shall they strike, Each - on his own highway, shall they march, - though, in among the weapons, they fall, they shall not stop. ⁹ Upon the city, shall they leap, on the wall, shall they run, up the houses, shall they climb, - through the windows, shall they enter, like a thief, ¹⁰ Before him, hath quaked the earth, have trembled the heavens, - the sun and the moon, have become dark, and, the stars, have withdrawn their 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
And God saw the light, that it was, good, and God divided the light, from the, 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 have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the bird of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth on the land.

Genesis 1:31
And God saw every thing which he had made, and lo! it was very good. So it was evening - and it was morning, the sixth day.

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

Genesis 2:2
Thus God finished, on the seventh day his work which he had made, and rested, on the seventh day, from all his work which he had made.

Genesis 5:1
This, is the record of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, In the likeness of God, made he him:

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

Genesis 11:10
These, are the genealogies of Shem, Shem was a hundred years old when he begat Arpachshad, two years after the flood

Genesis 25:12
Now, these, are the generations of Ishmael son of Abraham, - whom hagar the Egyptian woman the handmaid of Sarah bare 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.