Nahum 3:2
in Nahum 3The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots,
KJV
The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
⋯
This verse in Nahum 3
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
This site's exposition
The noise of a whip
on Nahum 3:2-3
The assault is heard before it is seen, the whip, the rattling wheels, the prancing horses, the jumping chariots, each named sound stacked on the last until the noise becomes the attack itself. Then the sword and spear, the slain in a multitude, the corpses so many the survivors stumble over them, the same battle poetry the second chapter used carried here at its fullest pitch. The bench reads the piling of short clauses as the Hebrew's own device, sound made to match the chaos it describes.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
Cyril of AlexandriaCommentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets · Written before 444.
proposed
Because emptying they have emptied them out and their branches. They destroyed the weapons of their power from among men, mighty men mocking in fire. The reins of their chariots on the day of his preparation, and the horsemen shall be thrown into confusion in the ways, and the chariots shall be thrown into confusion and shall clash together in the broad ways; their appearance is like torches of fire and like lightnings running to and fro.
(Chapter 3, verses 1 and following) Woe to the city of blood, full of deceit and torn apart. The plunder will not cease. The sound of the whip, the sound of the rattling wheel, the galloping horses and the blazing chariots, the ascending knight and the flashing sword, the gleaming spear and the multitude of the slain, and the weighty destruction. There is no end to the corpses.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Instances of like judgments for like sins, ver. 18-11. The overthrow of all wherein they trusted, ver. 12-19.
quarantine:anchor (2026-07-29) — cites-ver-18/12-anchored-1-7
The noise of a whip,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
robbery Heb. פֶּרֶק, robbery, that one breaks it away from the hand of its owner.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ק֣וֹל | kol | [the] sound of | H6963 → | 506 times |
| שׁ֔וֹט | shot | a whip | H7752 → | |
| וְק֖וֹל | vekol | and [the] sound of | H6963 → | 506 times |
| רַ֣עַשׁ | raash | [the] rattling of | H7494 → | |
| אוֹפָ֑ן | ʾofan | a wheel | H212 → | |
| וְס֣וּס | vesus | and a horse | H5483 → | |
| דֹּהֵ֔ר | doher | galloping | H1725 → | |
| וּמֶרְכָּבָ֖ה | umerkavah | and a chariot | H4818 → | |
| מְרַקֵּדָֽה׃ | merakedah | jolting | H7540 → |
ק֣וֹל[the] sound of
kolH6963 →506 times
שׁ֔וֹטa whip
shotH7752 →
וְק֖וֹלand [the] sound of
vekolH6963 →506 times
רַ֣עַשׁ[the] rattling of
raashH7494 →
אוֹפָ֑ןa wheel
ʾofanH212 →
וְס֣וּסand a horse
vesusH5483 →
דֹּהֵ֔רgalloping
doherH1725 →
וּמֶרְכָּבָ֖הand a chariot
umerkavahH4818 →
מְרַקֵּדָֽה׃jolting
merakedahH7540 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 9:5For every trampling boot of battle and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.
it leads to
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8
in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- Ezekiel 39:8–10
Yes, it is coming, and it will surely happen, declares the Lord GOD. This is the day of which I have spoken.
- Psalms 46:9
He makes wars to cease throughout the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields in the fire.
- Isaiah 30:33
For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a…
- Isaiah 4:4
when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8
Through
Jeremiah 47:3at the sound of the galloping hooves of stallions, the rumbling of chariots, and the clatter of their wheels. The fathers will not turn back for their sons; their hands will hang limp.
it leads to
- Judges 5:22
Then the hooves of horses thundered—the mad galloping of his stallions.
- Jeremiah 8:16
The snorting of enemy horses is heard from Dan. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city…
- Deuteronomy 28:54–55
The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived,
- Judges 5:22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Nahum
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Nahum; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.