Joel 2:5

2:5 They sound like ¹  chariots rumbling ²  over mountain tops,

like the crackling ³  of blazing fire consuming stubble,

like the noise of ⁴  a mighty army ⁵  being drawn up for battle. ⁶ 

[2:5]  ¹ tn Heb “like the sound of.”

[2:5]  ² tn Heb “jostling” or “leaping.” There is question whether this pictures chariots rumbling over the mountains (e.g., 2 Sam 6:14,16; 1 Chr 15:29; Nah 3:2) or the locusts flying – or “leaping” – over the mountains (e.g., Job 21:11); see BDB 955 s.v. רָקַד.

[2:5]  ³ tn Heb “sound.”

[2:5]  ⁴ tn The phrase “the noise of” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is implied by the parallelism, so it has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[2:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “people.”

[2:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “being arrayed of battle.”