Joel 2:2

Darkness, etc.] caused either by the clouds of locusts, or a figure of calamity: cp. Amos 5:18; Zephaniah 1:5.

3. The devastation wrought by the locusts was as though the country had been swept by a fire. Garden of Eden] Genesis 2:8. called also 'garden of Jehovah,' Genesis 13:10 : cp. Ezekiel 28:13; Ezekiel 36:35.

4. The head of a locust resembles somewhat that of a horse, hence the German name heupferd and Italian cavalletta. So shall they run] RV 'so do they run.' The description in this and the following vv. is not of a future but a present catastrophe, hence the verbs are to be rendered in the present, as in RV.

5. Shall they leap] RV 'do they leap.' The rustling noise of locusts has been likened by travellers to the sounds 'of the dashing of waters by the mill wheel,' and 'of a great cataract,' and their feeding to the noise 'of the crackling of a prairie fire.'