Bible Strands
Nahum 2:4
The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Nahum describes the Assyrian army's chariots advancing against Nineveh as the city faces imminent destruction. The narrative captures the precise moment the siege forces breach the urban defenses and move toward the walls.
The words — The Hebrew verb יִשְׁתַּקְשֵׁקוּן (yish.tak.she.Ku/n) denotes the violent, clattering rush of the chariots, while בַּֽ/חוּצוֹת (ba./chu.tzOt) specifies that this movement occurs through the city streets.
The thread — This motif of chariots advancing with terrifying speed appears in Jeremiah 4:13, Isaiah 66:15, and Ezekiel 26:10.
Why it lands — The text describes the relentless, physical motion of the invading force before drawing the inference of unavoidable judgment. It demands the reader acknowledge the concrete reality of the approaching destruction without offering comfort or delay.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 4:13 Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
- Isaiah 66:15 For behold, the LORD will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.
- Ezekiel 26:10 His multitude of horses will cover you in their dust. When he enters your gates as an army entering a breached city, your walls will shake from the noise of cavalry, wagons, and chariots.
- Nahum 3:2 The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!
- Isaiah 37:24 Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests.
- Daniel 11:40 At the time of the end, the king of the South will engage him in battle, but the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships, invading many countries and sweeping through them like a flood.