Nahum 3:3

3 See the flashing swords and glittering spears as the charioteers charge past! There are countless casualties, heaps of bodies— so many bodies that people stumble over them.

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 What sorrow awaits Nineveh, the city of murder and lies! She is crammed with wealth and is never without victims.

2 Hear the crack of whips, the rumble of wheels! Horses’ hooves pound, and chariots clatter wildly.

3 See the flashing swords and glittering spears as the charioteers charge past! There are countless casualties, heaps of bodies— so many bodies that people stumble over them.

4 All this because Nineveh, the beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with her beauty. She taught them all her magic, enchanting people everywhere.

5 “I am your enemy!” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “And now I will lift your skirts and show all the earth your nakedness and shame.