Nahum 3:3

3 Cavalry troops charge, swords flash, spears gleam! Corpses are piled high, dead bodies without number - men 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.


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 Doomed is the lying, murderous city, full of wealth to be looted and plundered!
2 Listen! The crack of the whip, the rattle of wheels, the gallop of horses, the jolting of chariots!
3 Cavalry troops charge, swords flash, spears gleam! Corpses are piled high, dead bodies without number - men stumble over them!
4 Nineveh the whore is being punished. Attractive and full of deadly charms, she enchanted nations and enslaved them.
5 The Lord Almighty says, "I will punish you, Nineveh! I will strip you naked and let the nations see you, see you in all your shame.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.