Parallel Verses
NET Bible
Like fire they devour everything in their path; a flame blazes behind them. The land looks like the Garden of Eden before them, but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness -- for nothing escapes them!
New American Standard Bible
And behind them a flame burns.
The land is
But a
And nothing at all escapes them.
King James Version
A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
Holman Bible
and behind them a flame devours.
The land in front of them
is like the Garden of Eden,
but behind them,
it is like a desert wasteland;
there is no escape from them.
International Standard Version
"A fire blazes in their presence, and behind them a conflagration rages. Before they come, the land is like the garden in Eden; after they leave, there is only a barren wasteland. Indeed, nothing escapes them.
A Conservative Version
A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Yea, and none has escaped them.
American Standard Version
A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and none hath escaped them.
Amplified
Before them a fire devours,
And behind them a flame burns;
Before them the land is like the Garden of Eden,
But behind them a desolate wilderness;
And nothing at all escapes them.
Bible in Basic English
Before them fire sends destruction, and after them flame is burning: the land is like the garden of Eden before them, and after them an unpeopled waste; truly, nothing has been kept safe from them.
Darby Translation
A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth; the land is as a garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness: yea, and nothing escapeth them.
Julia Smith Translation
Before him a fire devoured, and after him a flame shall burn; the land as the garden of Eden before him, and after him a desert of desolation; and also there was no escaping to him.
King James 2000
A fire devours before them; and behind them a flame burns: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
Lexham Expanded Bible
{Before them} a fire devours, and behind them a flame burns. Like the garden of Eden is the land {before them}, and after them [it is like] a desolate desert, and nothing can escape them.
Modern King James verseion
A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Yes, and nothing shall escape them.
Modern Spelling Tyndale-Coverdale
Before him shall be a consuming fire, and behind him a burning flame. The land shall be as a garden of pleasure before him, but behind him shall it be a very waste wilderness, and there is no man, that shall escape him.
New Heart English Bible
A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.
The Emphasized Bible
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.
Webster
A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; and nothing shall escape them.
World English Bible
A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.
Youngs Literal Translation
Before it consumed hath fire, And after it burn doth a flame, As the garden of Eden is the land before it, And after it a wilderness -- a desolation! And also an escape there hath not been to it,
Interlinear
Paniym
פּנים
Paniym
before, face, presence, because, sight, countenance, from, person, upon, of, ...me, against, ...him, open, for, toward,
Usage: 2119
References
Word Count of 20 Translations in Joel 2:3
Verse Info
Context Readings
The Day Of Yahweh Is Near
2 It will be a day of dreadful darkness, a day of foreboding storm clouds, like blackness spread over the mountains. It is a huge and powerful army -- there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! 3 Like fire they devour everything in their path; a flame blazes behind them. The land looks like the Garden of Eden before them, but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness -- for nothing escapes them! 4 They look like horses; they charge ahead like war horses.
Cross References
Genesis 2:8
The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed.
Isaiah 51:3
Certainly the Lord will console Zion; he will console all her ruins. He will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the Garden of the Lord. Happiness and joy will be restored to her, thanksgiving and the sound of music.
Zechariah 7:14
Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.' Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful land a waste."
Exodus 10:5
They will cover the surface of the earth, so that you will be unable to see the ground. They will eat the remainder of what escaped -- what is left over for you -- from the hail, and they will eat every tree that grows for you from the field.
Exodus 10:15
They covered the surface of all the ground, so that the ground became dark with them, and they ate all the vegetation of the ground and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green remained on the trees or on anything that grew in the fields throughout the whole land of Egypt.
Joel 1:19-20
To you, O Lord, I call out for help, for fire has burned up the grassy pastures, flames have razed all the trees in the fields.
Genesis 13:10
Lot looked up and saw the whole region of the Jordan. He noticed that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, all the way to Zoar.
Psalm 50:3
Our God approaches and is not silent; consuming fire goes ahead of him and all around him a storm rages.
Psalm 105:34-35
He ordered locusts to come, innumerable grasshoppers.
Jeremiah 5:17
They will eat up your crops and your food. They will kill off your sons and your daughters. They will eat up your sheep and your cattle. They will destroy your vines and your fig trees. Their weapons will batter down the fortified cities you trust in.
Ezekiel 31:8-9
The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it, nor could the fir trees match its boughs; the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches; no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.
Joel 1:4-7
What the gazam-locust left the 'arbeh-locust consumed, what the 'arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed, and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed!
Amos 7:4
The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.