Nahum 2:4

4 ¹The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches; they dart like lightning.

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 is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches.

3 The shield of his mighty men is red; his soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots come with flashing metal on the day he musters them; the cypress spears are brandished.

4 The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches; they dart like lightning.

5 He remembers his officers; they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall; the siege tower is set up.

6 The river gates are opened; the palace melts away;

Cross References

• 1. [Nahum 3:2]