Albert Barnes Commentary Nahum 3:2

"The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots," — Nahum 3:2 (ASV)

The noise (literally, “voice”) of the whip — There is cry against cry; the voice of the enemy, brought upon them through the voice of the oppressed. Blood has a voice which cries to heaven (Genesis 4:10); its echo or counterpart, as it were, is the cry of the destroyer.

All is urged on with terrific speed. The chariot-wheels quiver in the rapid onset; the chariots bound, like living things; the earth echoes with the whirling swiftness of the speed of the cavalry.

The prophet within, with the inward ear and eye which hears the mysteries of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:11, Matthew 13:16) and sees things to come, as they shall come upon the wicked, sees and hears the scourge coming. The words in Hebrew are purposely chosen with rough “r” sounds: רעשׁ ra‛ash — דהר dâhar — מרקדה m^eraqēdâh — a great noise, impetuously; and so he describes it as present.

Wars and rumors of wars are among the signs of the Day of Judgment. The “scourge,” though literally relating to the vehement onset of the enemy, suggests to the thoughts the scourges of Almighty God, with which He chastens the penitent, punishes the impenitent; the wheel, the swift changes of man’s condition in the rolling-on of time. O God, make them like a rolling thing (Psalms 83:14).