Nahum 3:3

3 Horsemen galloping, brandishing swords and spears, Dead bodies rotting in the street, corpses stacked like cordwood, Bodies in every gutter and alley, clogging every intersection!

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.


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 Doom to Murder City - full of lies, bursting with loot, addicted to violence!
2 Horns blaring, wheels clattering, horses rearing, chariots lurching,
3 Horsemen galloping, brandishing swords and spears, Dead bodies rotting in the street, corpses stacked like cordwood, Bodies in every gutter and alley, clogging every intersection!
4 And whores! Whores without end! Whore City, Fatally seductive, you're the Witch of Seduction, luring nations to their ruin with your evil spells.
5 "I'm your enemy, Whore Nineveh - I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! I'll strip you of your seductive silk robes and expose you on the world stage. I'll let the nations get their fill of the ugly truth of who you really are and have been all along.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.