Joel 2:4
in Joel 2Their appearance is like that of horses, and they gallop like swift steeds.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so do they run.
KJV
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
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This verse in Joel 2
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThe 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 Rev 9:
This site's exposition
A fire devoureth before them
on Joel 2:3-5
A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth pictures the swarm's approach and its wake, the land as the garden of Eden before them and a desolate wilderness behind, Eden and its ruin separated only by the locusts' own passing. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses draws a comparison ancient and modern observers of locust swarms have both made independently, the insect's head resembling a horse's in shape, which the older commentators offer as evidence the description still runs on a real plague rather than a coded reference to cavalry. The noise of chariots on the tops of mountains gives the swarm's sound its own simile, a dry rushing roar the verse itself compares to fire crackling in stubble.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 2 — Verses 1 onwards) Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like the dawn spreading over the mountains, a large and strong people appears, such as has never been before and will never be again in generations to come. Before them, a devouring fire; behind them, a blazing flame.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
An earnest call to repentance, ver. 12-17. A promise of all good things to the penitent, ver. 18-27. A prophecy of the Messiah's kingdom, ver. 28-32.
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Some of the ancients have observed that the head of a locust is very like, in shape, to the head of a horse. Very loud and noisy-- like the noise of chariots, of many chariots, when driven furiously over rough ground, on the tops of the mountains,
A serious call to the people, when they are under this sore judgment, to return and repent, to fast and pray, and to seek unto God for mercy, with directions how to do this aright,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
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.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The locust's head is so like that of a horse that the Italians call it cavalette. Compare Job 39:20, "the horse . . . as the grasshopper," or locust. run--The locust bounds, not unlike the horse's gallop, raising and letting down together the two front feet.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
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.”
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כְּמַרְאֵ֥ה | kemareh | [is] like [the] appearance of | H4758 → | |
| סוּסִ֖ים | susim | horses | H5483 → | |
| מַרְאֵ֑הוּ | marehu | appearance its | H4758 → | |
| וּכְפָרָשִׁ֖ים | ukhefarashim | and like horsemen | H6571 → | |
| כֵּ֥ן | ken | so | H3651 → | |
| יְרוּצֽוּן׃ | yerutzun | they run ! | H7323 → | 103 times |
כְּמַרְאֵ֥ה[is] like [the] appearance of
kemarehH4758 →
סוּסִ֖יםhorses
susimH5483 →
מַרְאֵ֑הוּappearance its
marehuH4758 →
וּכְפָרָשִׁ֖יםand like horsemen
ukhefarashimH6571 →
כֵּ֥ןso
kenH3651 →
יְרוּצֽוּן׃they run !
yerutzunH7323 →103 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
4 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 9:7And the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle, with something like crowns of gold on their heads, and faces like the faces of men.
it leads to
- Daniel 7:8
While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a…
- Nahum 3:17
Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows…
- Daniel 7:4
The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to…
- Joel 2:4–5
Their appearance is like that of horses, and they gallop like swift steeds.
- Daniel 7:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Joel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Joel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.