Here Nahum imagines he is watching the final assault of the enemy chariots as the city falls. In four phrases he picks out four outstanding features of the scene. Good News Translation introduces the verse with “Listen!” an exclamation which is intended to make the reader feel as if he too were present at the scene.

The crack of whip: crack is a term in English to describe the noise made by the whips. Whips were used to encourage horses to go faster. Another way of rendering this clause is “the cracking sound of whips.” In certain languages in Africa and elsewhere, this verse may be a good place to use ideophones.

Rumble of wheel is the noise made by the wheels of the attacking chariots as they rush forward. Good News Translation “rattle” is probably more appropriate. Here again an ideophone can be used to good effect in certain languages.

Galloping horse: the word translated galloping does not occur anywhere else and its meaning is not certain. Some form of the word “gallop” is used by most English translations. This gives an impression both of swift movement and of the noise of the horses’ hoofs beating on the ground. One can also say “the thud of horses’ hoofs.”

Bounding chariot: for notes on chariot see comments on 2.3. The chariots bounce as they speed over the uneven ground. There is a similarity of sound between the two Hebrew words in this phrase. One can obtain something of the same effect in English by saying “the charging of chariots,” but it is not possible to do this in many languages, and it is not of any great importance to do so. A possible rendering is “the rattling sound of racing chariots.”

In Revised Standard Version the nouns of this verse, whip, wheel, horse, and chariot, are all singular. The prophet mentions one sample of each item as representing many. In other languages it may be more appropriate to translate as plural, as Good News Translation does (compare Moffatt, New American Bible, New English Bible, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant).

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A . A Handbook on the Book of Nahum. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .