Nahum 3:3

3 Chariots charge! Swords flash! Spears glitter! {Many corpses are piled high}! There is no end to the slain! 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 [that has shed] {much blood}! {She is a deceiver}, She is filled [with] plunder, {She has hoarded her spoils of war}.

2 The crack of the whip! The rumbling of the [chariot] wheel! The galloping of the horse! The racing of the chariot!

3 Chariots charge! Swords flash! Spears glitter! {Many corpses are piled high}! There is no end to the slain! They stumble over their dead!

4 "Because of the many idolatries of [the] prostitute, the beautiful charm [of] a mistress of witchcraft, she who enslaves nations by her harlotries, and peoples by her sorceries,

5 "Look! I am against you!" {declares}Yahweh. "I will strip up your skirts over your face; I will let nations look [at] your nakedness and your shame.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "Many dead, piles of corpses"