Nahum 3:2-3

Portrayal of the Destruction of Nineveh

3:2 The chariot drivers will crack their whips; ¹ 

the chariot wheels will shake the ground; ² 

the chariot horses ³  will gallop; ⁴ 

the war chariots ⁵  will bolt forward! ⁶ 

3:3 The charioteers ⁷  will charge ahead; ⁸ 

their swords ⁹  will flash ¹⁰ 

and their spears ¹¹  will glimmer! ¹² 

There will be many people slain; ¹³ 

there will be piles of the dead,

and countless casualties ¹⁴  –

so many that people ¹⁵  will stumble over the corpses.

[3:2]  ¹ tn Heb “the sound of a whip.”

[3:2]  ² tn Heb “the shaking of a chariot wheel.”

[3:2]  ³ tn Heb “a horse.”

[3:2]  ⁴ tn Albright argues that the term דֹּהֵר (doher) should be translated as “chariot driver” (W. F. Albright, “The Song of Deborah in Light of Archaeology,” BASOR 62 [1936]: 30). More recent research indicates that this term denotes “to dash” (HALOT 215 s.v.) or “to gallop, neigh” (DCH 2:417 s.v. דהר I). It is used as a synonym for רָקַד (raqad, “to skip”). This Hebrew verb is related to Egyptian thr (“to travel by chariot”) and Arabic dahara VII (“to hurry”). The related noun דַּהֲרָה (daharah) means “dashing, galloping” (Judg 5:22; HALOT 215 s.v.; DCH 2:417 s.v. דַּהֲרָה I).

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “a chariot.”

[3:2]  ⁶ tn The Piel participle מְרַקֵּדָה (mÿraqqedah, “jolting”) is from רַקַד (raqad); this verb means “to dance, to leap” (of children, Job 21:11), “to skip about, to dance” (Eccl 3:4), and “to leap” (of chariots, Joel 2:5). In related Semitic languages (Akkadian, Ugaritic, and Arabic) the root raqad means “to dance, to skip about.” Here, the verb is used as a figurative expression (hypocatastasis) to describe the jostling of the madly rushing war-chariots.

[3:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “a horseman.” Although the Hebrew term פָּרָס (paras, alternately spelled פָּרָשׂ [paras] here) could denote “horse” (1 Sam 8:11; Joel 2:4; Hab 1:8; Jer 46:4), the Hiphil participle מַעֲלֶה (ma’aleh, “cause to charge”) – the subject of which is פָּרָס – suggests that פָּרָס refers here to “horsemen” charging their horses (2 Sam 1:6; 1 Kgs 20:20; Jer 4:29; 46:4).

[3:3]  ⁸ tn The term מַעֲלֶה (ma’aleh; the Hiphil participle “cause to charge”) refers to charioteers bringing war-horses up to a charge or attack (e.g., Jer 46:9; 51:27). On the other hand, the KJV translates this as “lifteth up [both the bright sword and the glittering sword],” while RV renders it as “mounts [his horse (or chariot)].”

[3:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “a sword.”

[3:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “flash of a sword.” Alternately, “swords flash.” Although לַהַב (lahav) can mean “blade” (Judg 3:22; 1 Sam 17:7), it means “flash [of the sword]” here (e.g., Hab 3:11; see HALOT 520 s.v.) as suggested by its parallelism with וּבְרַק (uvÿraq, “flashing, gleaming point [of the spear]”); cf. Job 20:25; Deut 32:41; Hab 3:11; Ezek 21:15.

[3:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a spear.”

[3:3]  ¹² tn Heb “and flash of a spear.” Alternately, “spears glimmer” (HALOT 162 s.v. בָּרָק).

[3:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “many slain.”

[3:3]  ¹⁴ tc The MT reads לַגְּוִיָּה (laggÿviyyah, “to the dead bodies”). The LXX reflects לְגוֹיָה (lÿgoyah, “to her nations”) which arose due to confusion between the consonant ו (vav) and the vowel וֹ (holem-vav) in an unpointed text.

[3:3]  tn Heb “There is no end to the dead bodies.”

[3:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they.”