2:4 They look like horses; 1
they charge ahead like war horses.
2:5 They sound like 2 chariots rumbling 3 over mountain tops,
like the crackling 4 of blazing fire consuming stubble,
like the noise of 5 a mighty army 6 being drawn up for battle. 7
2:6 People 8 writhe in fear when they see them. 9
All of their faces turn pale with fright. 10
1 tn Heb “Like the appearance of horses [is] its appearance.”
2 tn Heb “like the sound of.”
3 tn Heb “jostling” or “leaping.” There is question whether this pictures chariots rumbling over the mountains (e.g., 2 Sam 6:14,16; 1 Chr 15:29; Nah 3:2) or the locusts flying – or “leaping” – over the mountains (e.g., Job 21:11); see BDB 955 s.v. רָקַד.
4 tn Heb “sound.”
5 tn The phrase “the noise of” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is implied by the parallelism, so it has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
6 tn Heb “people.”
7 tn Heb “being arrayed of battle.”
3 tn Or “nations.”
4 tn Heb “before it.”
5 tn Heb “all faces gather beauty”; or “all faces gather a glow.” The Hebrew word פָּארוּר (pa’rur) is found in the OT only here and in Nah 2:11. Its meaning is very uncertain. Some scholars associate it with a root that signifies “glowing”; hence “all faces gather a glow of dread.” Others associate the word with פָּרוּר (parur, “pot”); hence “all faces gather blackness.” Still others take the root to signify “beauty”; hence “all faces gather in their beauty” in the sense of growing pale due to fear. This is the view assumed here.