Nahum 3:2

The chariot drivers will crack their whips; ¹  the chariot wheels will shake the ground; ²  the chariot horses ³  will gallop; ⁴  the war chariots ⁵  will bolt forward! ⁶ 

The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots!

The noise of the whip, The noise of the rattling of the wheel, Galloping horses And bounding chariots!

Listen! Hear the crack of the whips as the chariots rush forward against her. Wheels rumble, horses’ hooves pound, and chariots clatter as they bump wildly through the streets.

Horns blaring, wheels clattering, horses rearing, chariots lurching,

The noise of the whip, and the noise of thundering wheels; horses rushing and war-carriages jumping,

The crack of whip and rumble of wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!

The noise of a whip And the noise of rattling wheels, Of galloping horses, Of clattering chariots!

The chariot drivers will crack their whips; ¹  the chariot wheels will shake the ground; ²  the chariot horses ³  will gallop; ⁴  the war chariots ⁵  will bolt forward! ⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “the sound of a whip.”

² tn Heb “the shaking of a chariot wheel.”

³ tn Heb “a horse.”

⁴ tn Albright argues that the term דֹּהֵר (doher) should be translated as “chariot driver” (W. F. Albright, “The Song of Deborah in Light of Archaeology,” BASOR 62 [1936]: 30). More recent research indicates that this term denotes “to dash” (HALOT 215 s.v.) or “to gallop, neigh” (DCH 2:417 s.v. דהר I). It is used as a synonym for רָקַד (raqad, “to skip”). This Hebrew verb is related to Egyptian thr (“to travel by chariot”) and Arabic dahara VII (“to hurry”). The related noun דַּהֲרָה (daharah) means “dashing, galloping” (Judg 5:22; HALOT 215 s.v.; DCH 2:417 s.v. דַּהֲרָה I).

⁵ tn Heb “a chariot.”

⁶ tn The Piel participle מְרַקֵּדָה (mÿraqqedah, “jolting”) is from רַקַד (raqad); this verb means “to dance, to leap” (of children, Job 21:11), “to skip about, to dance” (Eccl 3:4), and “to leap” (of chariots, Joel 2:5). In related Semitic languages (Akkadian, Ugaritic, and Arabic) the root raqad means “to dance, to skip about.” Here, the verb is used as a figurative expression (hypocatastasis) to describe the jostling of the madly rushing war-chariots.