Opinions may differ as to whether the prophet means that the four swarms succeeded each other in the course of one year or over a longer period of successive years. The first is, in my view, the most obvious. The fact that Joel 2:25 mentions the years
need not be in conflict with this: after all, it may have happened that, in more than one year, one swarm followed the other (within each year).1
4 Ce qu'a laissé le gazam, la sauterelle l'a dévoré; Ce qu'a laissé la sauterelle, le jélek l'a dévoré; Ce qu'a laissé le jélek, le hasil l'a dévoré.