The noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling of wheels, prancing horses, and bounding chariots,
Parallel Translations
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The noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling of wheels, prancing horses, and bounding chariots,
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The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
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Hark! the whip, and hark! the rattling of the wheels; and prancing horses, and bounding chariots;
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Nahum 3:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 47:3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don’t look back to their children for feebleness of hands;
- Nahum 2:3-4 The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished. The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the wide ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings.
- Judges 5:22 Then the horse hoofs stamped because of the prancing, the prancing of their strong ones.
- Job 39:22-25 He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed, neither does he turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin. He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet. As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
- Isaiah 9:5 For all the armor of the armed man in the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet represents here as in a lively picture,…
The Prophet represents here as in a lively picture, what was nigh the Assyrians; for he sets forth the Chaldeans their enemies, with all their preparations and in their quick movements. The sound of the whip, he says; the whips, made a noise in exciting the horses: the sound of the rattling of the wheel; that is, great shall be the haste and celerity, when the horses shall be forced on by the whip; the horse also shaking the earth, and the chariot bounding; the horseman making it to ascend; and then, the flame of the sword and the lightning of the spear He then says, that there would be such a slaughter, that the whole place would be full of dead bodies.
We now then understand what the Prophet means: for as Nineveh might have then appeared impregnable the Prophet confirms at large what he had said of its approaching ruin, and thus sets before the eyes of the Israelites what was then incredible.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He showeth how the Chaldeans shall haste, and how…
He showeth how the Chaldeans shall haste, and how courageous their horses shall be in beating the ground when they come against the Assyrians.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Nah 3:2 The noise of a whip, and the…
Nah 3:2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
Ver. 2. The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels] A most elegant and lively hypotyposis, or description, of the Chaldeans coming to take Nineveh; Tam pulchra, saith Jerome, et picturae similis, ut omnis meus sermo sit vilior; So gallant and picture like a representation of an advancing army, that no words of mine can come near it. Virgil is commended for his excellent expressions suitable to the matter he treateth of; as when he sets forth the cutting down of trees, by - Sonat icta securibus ilex; the ferryman’s trade, by - fremit ictibus aerea puppis; the gliding of his boat, by - Labitur uncta vadis abies, &c. But all this is but dull stuff to the divine rhetoric here to be read. Let those that refuse to hear God’s sweet words fear lest they be forced to hear the noise of the whip, the rattling of the wheels, &c., Psa 7:12-13 Luk 19:42; Luk 19:44 Pro 1:24. The enemy is sent to revenge the quarrel of God’s covenant; the red horse is at the heels of the white, Rev 6:4.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The French reads this verse with a negative distributive,…
The French reads this verse with a negative distributive, and so links this and the next verse with the former negative, Nah 3:1; thus, The prey departeth not, nor the noise of the whip, nor, &c., intimating the long continuance of the Chaldeans insulting over the Ninevites.
The noise of a whip, with which the charioteer roused and animated the horses which drew the warlike chariots.
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The noise of the rattling of the wheels, by the swift motion of the horses,
and of the pransing horses, in the chariots proudly and stately trampling, and of the jumping chariots, made to jump by the swiftness and strength of the horses which drew them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The noise of a whip,.... Of a horseman or…
The noise of a whip,.... Of a horseman or chariot driver whipping his horses to make speed to Nineveh, and enter into it, so near as to be heard by the inhabitants of it; and is thus represented in order to strike terror into them:
and the noise of the rattling of the wheels; that is, of the chariots upon the stones, whose drivers drove Jehu like, making the utmost haste they could to get in first, and seize the prey:
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and of the pransing horses; or bounding steeds, upon a full gallop; either with horsemen on them riding full speed to partake of the booty; or in chariots, in which they caper and prance, and shake the ground as they go; hence it follows:
and of the jumping chariots; which, through the swiftness of the motion, seem to leap and dance as they run along.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Nah 3:2-3. The noise of a whip, &c. —…
Nah 3:2-3. The noise of a whip, &c. — These verses are highly poetical; the prophet tells them, that he already hears the sound of the whips driving on the horses, and the rattling of the chariot wheels, &c., of their enemies coming against them. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword, &c. — In the Hebrew it is, The horseman lifteth up the flame of the sword, and the lightning of the spear, which is more poetical than our rendering. The style of the whole passage is extremely fine; scarce any thing can be more picturesque, or strongly descriptive of a victorious army.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The noise (literally, “voice”) of the whip - There…
The noise (literally, “voice”) of the whip - There is cry against cry; the voice of the enemy, brought upon them through the voice of the oppressed. Blood hath a voice which crieth Gen 4:10 to heaven; its echo or counterpart, as it were, is the cry of the destroyer. All is urged on with terrific speed. The chariot-wheels quiver in the rapid onset; the chariots bound, like living things; the earth echoes with the whirling swiftness of the speed of the cavalry. The prophet within, with the inward ear and eye which hears “the mysteries of the Kingdom of God” Mat 13:11, Mat 13:16 and sees things to come, as they shall come upon the wicked, sees and hears the scourge coming, with The words in Hebrew are purposely chosen with rough “r” sounds: רעשׁ ra‛ash, דהר dâhar, מרקדה meraqēdâh, a great noise, impetuously; and so describes it as present. Wars and rumors of wars are among the signs of the Day of Judgment. The “scourge,” though literally relating to the vehement onset of the enemy, suggests to the thoughts, the scourges of Almighty God, wherewith He chastens the penitent, punishes the impenitent; the wheel, the swift changes of man’s condition in the rolling-on of time. “O God, make them like a rolling thing” Psa 83:14.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The noise. He has described the forces of Ninive,…
The noise. He has described the forces of Ninive, now he specifies those of Cyaxares and Nabopolassar.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The reader is transported into the midst of the…
The reader is transported into the midst of the fight (compare Jer 47:3). The "noise of the whips" urging on the horses (in the chariots) is heard, and of "the rattling of the wheels" of war chariots, and the "horses" are seen "prancing," and the "chariots jumping," &c.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2, 3. Graphic description of the attack on Nineveh.…
2, 3. Graphic description of the attack on Nineveh. Nah_3:2 describes rather what is heard when the onset commences: cracking whips and prancing horsemen and rattling wheels; and Nah_3:3 what is seen: charging horsemen, and flashing swords and glittering spears. On the whip, Layard, II. 356.
jumping chariots] i.e. bounding either from their excessive speed, or from the obstacles which they meet in the uneven ground before the city.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) The noise of . . .—Better, Hark to…
(2) The noise of . . .—Better, Hark to the whip, and hark to the rattling of the wheel, and the horse galloping, and the chariot bounding. The entry of the victorious besiegers is here described.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The noise of a whip. The prophet describes the…
The noise of a whip. The prophet describes the advance of the investing army. He hears the cracking of the whips of the charioteers, and the rattling of the wheels of the chariots, and the galloping horses, and the chariots bounding over the plain. Probably all the expressions in this verso refer to chariots and to horses yoked to them, which varied in number from one to three. The whip was a simple thong attached to a short handle. Comp. Virg., "Georg.," 3:106, etc. "...illi instant verbere torto Et proni dant lora, volat vi fervidus axis; Jamque humiles, jamque elati sublime videntur Aera per vacuum ferri, atque adsurgere in auras.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:2-3 These short, staccato phrases dramatize the effects of…
3:2-3 These short, staccato phrases dramatize the effects of seeing and hearing the battle. • Assyrian chariots and charioteers were feared far and wide.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.