Nah 3:3 | NETfull | STEP | The charioteers will charge ahead; their swords will flash and their spears will glimmer! There will be many people slain; there will be piles of the dead, and countless casualties – so many that people will stumble over the corpses.

Nahum 3:3

3 The charioteers ^{▼▼ Heb “a horseman.” Although the Hebrew term פָּרָס (paras, alternately spelled פָּרָשׂ [paras] here) could denote “horse” (1 Sam 8:11; Joel 2:4; Hab 1:8; Jer 46:4), the Hiphil participle מַעֲלֶה (ma’aleh, “cause to charge”) – the subject of which is פָּרָס – suggests that פָּרָס refers here to “horsemen” charging their horses (2 Sam 1:6; 1 Kgs 20:20; Jer 4:29; 46:4).} will charge ahead; ^{▼▼ The term מַעֲלֶה (ma’aleh; the Hiphil participle “cause to charge”) refers to charioteers bringing war-horses up to a charge or attack (e.g., Jer 46:9; 51:27). On the other hand, the KJV translates this as “lifteth up [both the bright sword and the glittering sword],” while RV renders it as “mounts [his horse (or chariot)].”}
their swords ^{▼▼ Heb “a sword.”} will flash ^{▼▼ Heb “flash of a sword.” Alternately, “swords flash.” Although לַהַב (lahav) can mean “blade” (Judg 3:22; 1 Sam 17:7), it means “flash [of the sword]” here (e.g., Hab 3:11; see HALOT 520 s.v.) as suggested by its parallelism with וּבְרַק (uv^eraq, “flashing, gleaming point [of the spear]”); cf. Job 20:25; Deut 32:41; Hab 3:11; Ezek 21:15.}
and their spears ^{▼▼ Heb “a spear.”} will glimmer! ^{▼▼ Heb “and flash of a spear.” Alternately, “spears glimmer” (HALOT 162 s.v. בָּרָק).}
There will be many people slain; ^{▼▼ Heb “many slain.”}
there will be piles of the dead,
and countless casualties ^{▼▼ The MT reads לַגְּוִיָּה (lagg^eviyyah, “to the dead bodies”). The LXX reflects לְגוֹיָה (l^egoyah, “to her nations”) which arose due to confusion between the consonant ו (vav) and the vowel וֹ (holem-vav) in an unpointed text.} ^{▼▼ Heb “There is no end to the dead bodies.”} –
so many that people ^{▼▼ Heb “they.”} will stumble over the corpses.