Nahum 3:2
What does Nahum 3:2 mean?
A plain-English look at Nahum 3:2 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Nahum 3:2 means
The prophet lets us hear the battle before we see it: whips cracking, wheels rattling, horses prancing, chariots bounding. This is the sound of a relentless assault bearing down on Nineveh. Once the terror of nations, she now hears the approach of a fiercer power. The imagery does not simply record facts; it signals reversal. What Nineveh did to others is turning upon her. The noise of instruments of war anticipates the collapse to follow. The city that trafficked in violence will be forced to endure violence, demonstrating that no empire—however fast, well-equipped, or aggressively led—can outrun the judgment of the God who governs history.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots,
KJV
King James Version · 1611The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots,
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949The noise of the whip, and the noise of thundering wheels; horses rushing and war-carriages jumping,
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862The sound of a whip, And the sound of the rattling of a wheel, And of a prancing horse, and of a bounding chariot, Of a horseman mounting.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the neighing horse; and of the running chariot, and of the horsemen coming up,
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890The crack of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the bounding chariots!
Context
After the woe and indictment in verse 1, verse 2 shifts to sensory detail, immersing the reader in the sounds of battle. This auditory picture prepares the way for verse 3’s graphic vision of casualties. The sequence matters: God names the sin, then shows its consequence unfolding in real time. The rise of noise is the prelude to the fall of Nineveh’s pride, anchoring the chapter’s theme that what is heard approaching inevitably becomes what is seen accomplished.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Isaiah 9:5
For all the armor of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, for fuel of fire.
- Judges 5:22
Then did the horsehoofs stamp By reason of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones.
- 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 look not back to their children for feebleness of hands;
- Nahum 2:3
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 cypress spears are brandished.
- Job 39:22
He mocketh at fear, and is not dismayed; Neither turneth he back from the sword.
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