Nahum 2:4

4 The 1chariots race madly in the streets, They rush wildly in the squares, Their appearance is like torches, They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.

Nahum 2:4 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 2:4

The chariots shall rage in the streets
In the streets of Nineveh when taken; where they shall be drove in a furious manner from place to place, the men in them breathing out slaughter and death wherever they came. Kimchi understands this of the chariots of the Ninevites; who shall drive about in them in the streets of the city like madmen; not daring to go out to fight the enemy, being mightier and more numerous than they. They shall justle one against another in the broad ways;
because of their numbers, and the haste they shall make to spoil and plunder the city; or the Ninevites shall justle one against another, in their hurry and confusion to make their escape. They shall seem like torches;
either the chariots of the Medes and Chaldeans, for the reasons given in the preceding verse ( Nahum 2:3 ) ; or they themselves, because of their fierceness and cruelty; or the faces of the Ninevites, being covered with shame, so Kimchi; see ( Isaiah 13:8 ) . They shall run like the lightnings;
exceeding swiftly, with irresistible force and power; the above writer interprets this of the Ninevites also, running from one end of their city to the other in the utmost confusion, not knowing what to do; but the whole of these two verses ( Nahum 2:3 Nahum 2:4 ) seem to be a description of their enemies.

Nahum 2:4 In-Context

2 For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob Like the splendor of Israel, Even though devastators have devastated them And destroyed their vine branches.
3 The shields of his mighty men are colored red, The warriors are dressed in scarlet, The chariots are enveloped in flashing steel When he is prepared to march, And the cypress spears are brandished.
4 The chariots race madly in the streets, They rush wildly in the squares, Their appearance is like torches, They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.
5 He remembers his nobles; They stumble in their march, They hurry to her wall, And the mantelet is set up.
6 The gates of the rivers are opened And the palace is dissolved.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Isaiah 66:15; Jeremiah 4:13; Ezekiel 26:10; Nahum 3:2, 3

Footnotes 1

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