Joel 2:8

They do not jostle one another; ¹  each of them marches straight ahead. ²  They burst through ³  the city defenses ⁴  and do not break ranks.

2Ch 23:10; 2Ch 32:5; Ne 4:17,23; Job 33:18; Job 36:12; So 4:13

¹ tn “each one does not crowd his brother.”

² tn Heb “each warrior walks in his own course.”

³ tn Heb “they fall upon.” This line has been interpreted in two different ways: (1) although they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded (KJV), or (2) when they “burst through” the city’s defenses, they will not break ranks (RSV, NASB, NIV, NIrV).

⁴ tn Heb “missile” or “javelin.” This term appears to function as a synecdoche for the city’s defenses as a whole (cf. NASB, NIV, TEV). Some scholars instead understand the reference to be an aqueduct by which the locusts (or armies) entered the city.