Nahum 3:2

2 The crack of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the bounding chariots!

Nahum 3:2 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 3:2

The noise of a whip
Of a horseman or chariot driver whipping his horses to make speed to Nineveh, and enter into it, so near as to be heard by the inhabitants of it; and is thus represented in order to strike terror into them: and the noise of the rattling of the wheels;
that is, of the chariots upon the stones, whose drivers drove Jehu like, making the utmost haste they could to get in first, and seize the prey: and of the pransing horses;
or bounding steeds, upon a full gallop; either with horsemen on them riding full speed to partake of the booty; or in chariots, in which they caper and prance, and shake the ground as they go; hence it follows: and of the jumping chariots;
which, through the swiftness of the motion, seem to leap and dance as they run along.

Nahum 3:2 In-Context

1 Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies [and] violence; the prey departeth not.

2 The crack of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the bounding chariots!

3 The horseman springing up, and the glitter of the sword, and the flash of the spear, and a multitude of slain, and a mass of carcases, and no end of corpses: they stumble over their corpses.

4 -- Because of the multitude of the fornications of the well-favoured harlot, mistress of sorceries, that selleth nations through her fornications, and families through her sorceries,

5 behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts; and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.