“The armies of Babylon are like waters rising in the north.
    They will become a great flood.
They will flow over the land and everything in it.
    They will flow over the towns and those who live in them.
The people will cry out.
    All those who live in the land will weep.
³ They will weep when they hear galloping horses.
    They will weep at the noise of enemy chariots.
    They will weep at the rumble of their wheels.
Parents will not even try to help their children.
    Their hands will not be able to help them.
⁴ The day has come
    to destroy all the Philistines.
The time has come to remove all those
    who could help Tyre and Sidon.
I am about to destroy the Philistines.
    I will not leave anyone alive
    who came from the coasts of Crete.
⁵ The people of Gaza will be so sad
    they will shave their heads.
    And Ashkelon’s people will be silent.
You who remain on the plain,
    how long will you cut yourselves?

⁶ “ ‘Sword of the Lord!’ you cry out.
    ‘How long will it be until you rest?
Return to the place you came from.
    Stop killing us! Be still!’
⁷ But how can his sword rest
    when the Lord has given it a command?
He has ordered it
    to attack Ashkelon and the Philistine coast.”