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A Message about Philistia

47 This is the Lord’s message to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines of Gaza, before it was captured by the Egyptian army. This is what the Lord says:

“A flood is coming from the north
    to overflow the land.
It will destroy the land and everything in it—
    cities and people alike.
People will scream in terror,
    and everyone in the land will wail.
Hear the clatter of stallions’ hooves
    and the rumble of wheels as the chariots rush by.
Terrified fathers run madly,
    without a backward glance at their helpless children.

“The time has come for the Philistines to be destroyed,
    along with their allies from Tyre and Sidon.
Yes, the Lord is destroying the remnant of the Philistines,
    those colonists from the island of Crete.[a]
Gaza will be humiliated, its head shaved bald;
    Ashkelon will lie silent.
You remnant from the Mediterranean coast,[b]
    how long will you cut yourselves in mourning?

“Now, O sword of the Lord,
    when will you be at rest again?
Go back into your sheath;
    rest and be still.

“But how can it be still
    when the Lord has sent it on a mission?
For the city of Ashkelon
    and the people living along the sea
    must be destroyed.”

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Footnotes

  1. 47:4 Hebrew from Caphtor.
  2. 47:5 Hebrew the plain.

Judgment on the Philistines

47 The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:(A)

Thus says the Lord:
See, waters are rising out of the north
    and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who live in it.
People shall cry out,
    and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.(B)
At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
    at the clatter of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
parents do not turn back for children,
    so feeble are their hands,(C)
because of the day that is coming
    to destroy all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
    every helper that remains.
For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,
    the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.(D)
Baldness has come upon Gaza;
    Ashkelon is silenced.
O remnant of Anakim![a]
    How long will you gash yourselves?(E)
Ah, sword of the Lord!
    How long until you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard;
    rest and be still!(F)
How can it[b] be quiet,
    when the Lord has given it an order?
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore—
    there he has appointed it.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. 47.5 Gk: Heb their valley
  2. 47.7 Gk Vg: Heb you