What Does Nahum 3:2 Mean in the King James?
The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The rattling is not background to violence; it is the sound of force arriving.
THE MEANING
Violence reaches the senses as a sequence: the whip cracks, wheels rattle, horses charge, and chariots bound forward. The sound makes the approaching force present before the verse names any wound.
THE ROOT
רַעַשׁ
ra'ash
GROWS FROM
רעש
ra'ash
To shake or quake, producing a rumble or commotion.
The word translated “rattling” belongs to the same root as “earthquake”: it names disturbance that can be heard as well as felt. The wheels’ noise carries the vibration of the advancing violence.
ALSO GROWS
yir'ash: To quake, tremble, or shake.
יִרְעַשׁ
This verbal form shows the root as motion: the rattling in the verse is a shaking force in progress.
ra'ash: Earthquake, rumbling, or uproar.
רַעַשׁ
As a noun, the same root names a disturbance large enough to shake the ground, opening the wheel-rattle into a wider field of force.
THE PATTERN
An advancing force makes itself known through sound before the encounter is complete.
He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?THE THREAD
And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:Nahum’s “rattling” and this “earthquake” use the same Hebrew root, רעש (ra’ash), for rumbling or shaking. The word gathers the wheel’s clatter and the earth’s shudder into one field of disturbance.
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