Nahum 3:3

3 Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over their dead—

Nahum 3:3 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 3:3

The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the
glittering spear
Or, "the flame of the sword and the glittering spear" ^F23; he rides with a drawn sword, which, being brandished to and fro, looks like a flame of fire; or with a spear made of polished iron, or steel, which, when vibrated and moved to and fro, glitters like lightning; a large number of which entering the city must be terrible to the inhabitants of it: and [there is] a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses;
of dead men lying in the streets, pierced and slain with the bright sword and glittering spear of the Medes and Chaldeans: and [there is] none end of [their] corpses;
the number of them could not be told; they lay so thick in all parts of the city, that there was no telling them: they stumble upon their corpses;
the Ninevites in fleeing, and endeavouring to make their escape, and the Medes and Chaldeans pursuing them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 (tynx qrbw brx bhl) "flammam gladii et fulgorem hastae", Piscator; "flammam gladii et fulgur hastae", Cocceius; "flamma gladii et fulgur lanceae", Burkius.

Nahum 3:3 In-Context

1 Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.

2 The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!

3 Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over their dead—

4 because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft.

5 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.