Commentary for Nahum 2:4
מָגֵ֨ן גִּבֹּרֵ֜יהוּ מְאָדָּ֗ם אַנְשֵׁי־חַ֙יִל֙ מְתֻלָּעִ֔ים בְּאֵשׁ־פְּלָד֥וֹת הָרֶ֖כֶב בְּי֣וֹם הֲכִינ֑וֹ וְהַבְּרֹשִׁ֖ים הָרְעָֽלוּ׃
The shield of his mighty men is made red, The valiant men are in scarlet; The chariots are fire of steel in the day of his preparation, And the cypress spears are made to quiver.
Rashi on Nahum
The shields of his mighty men—The mighty of Nebuchadnezzar, who lay siege to Assyria.
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Rashi on Nahum
are dyed red—They are dyed red, and the men of their army are in crimson, dressed in crimson.
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Rashi on Nahum
the chariots are in the fire of torches on the day of his preparation Heb. פְּלָדֹת. On the day that he [Nebuchadnezzar] is prepared to go out in the army, he polishes his iron chariots, but I do not know what פְּלָדֹת means. I say that it is a material that polishes iron well. And some interpret פְּלָדֹת as an expression of a fiery torch (לַפִּיד), by transposing the letters.
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Rashi on Nahum
and the cypresses are enwrapped—Jonathan renders: And the heads of the [Babylonian] camps are enwrapped in colored garments.
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Rashi on Nahum
are enwrapped Heb. הַרְעָלוּ, enwrapped. Similar is (Isa. 3:19) “The necklaces and the bracelets and the shawls (הָרְעָלוֹת).” In the language of the Mishnah we learned “shawled (רְעוּלוֹת) Arabian women” in tractate Shabbath (65a).
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