The difficulty with the first half of this verse lies in deciding whether it speaks of the attackers or the defenders. There are two main problems. The first is that the verse opens with a singular verb in Hebrew (“He summons” in New International Version; “He commands” in New Jerusalem Bible). The nearest singular subject for the “he” to refer to is “The shatterer” of verse 1. If this is indeed the subject, then the description must be of the attackers.

However, the second problem is the occurrence of the word stumble, which seems out of place if applied to well-organized attackers. One of the marks of such an army is that its men do not stumble (Isa 5.27). The word stumble is more appropriate if used about unready defenders hurrying to man the walls. But if this is the case, there is no real subject for the singular verb “summons.”

Those who take this verse to refer to the attackers (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project) may explain the stumbling as caused by their eagerness and haste (Watts). Or else they may change the Hebrew by one letter to form a similar word and translate “they take command of their companies” (J. M. P. Smith).

Those who take the verse to refer to the defenders have to assume that it is the king of Assyria who summons The officers (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Lehrman). This would be rather odd, since he has not previously been mentioned, but it is not impossible in such an abrupt passage as this.

Another possibility is to read a different form of the verb for “summon,” as Revised Standard Version does, and to translate The officers are summoned. This wording seems to have the support of the ancient Greek translation but does not in itself resolve the question of whether the attackers or the defenders are in view. Revised Standard Version applies the words to the attackers (compare Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). Good News Translation uses the same words “The officers are summoned” but applies them to the defenders.

This is one of those cases where it is virtually impossible to be certain what the original writer intended. It seems more likely that the whole of verses 3-5 describes the attackers. However, translators will do well to consider which interpretation sounds best in their own languages. For languages which do not use the passive, a translator can restructure and say “The officers receive a summons,” or else introduce a nonspecific subject and say “they summon (or, call) the officers.” If the second choice is taken, the next sentence will then need to be rendered as “who stumble as they go,” so that the subject refers to officers.

They hasten to the wall: in the second half of the verse the description is definitely of the attackers. Good News Translation makes this explicit: “The attackers rush to the wall,” that is, the wall which protects the inner city.

The mantelet is set up: in ancient warfare the attackers would attempt to break down the gates of a city with a battering ram. This was usually a large tree trunk with an iron tip in the shape of an ax head. It was either carried by soldiers or mounted on a frame which allowed it to be swung at the gates. In either case the attacking soldiers would be exposed to missiles hurled by the defenders. In order to protect their men, the attackers would place over the battering ram a kind of movable shelter called a mantelet (Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New English Bible). This is what Good News Translation refers to with the words “set up the shield for the battering ram.” It will be useful in some languages to say “set up a protective shield (or, protective device) over the battering ram.” It may be helpful to include an explanatory footnote here, as Bible en français courant does. “Battering ram” may need to be rephrased as “the tree trunk for battering the walls or gates.”

Another translation model for this verse is:

• They call the officers, who stumble as they press forward.
The attackers (or, enemy soldiers) run quickly up to the wall
and set up the shelter for the tree trunk to batter the wall.

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 .