Nahum 2:4

4 The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the broad ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings.

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 Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches.

3 The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished.

4 The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the broad ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings.

5 He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.