⁵ Ashkelon^(A) will see it and fear;
    Gaza will writhe in agony,
    and Ekron too, for her hope will wither.
Gaza will lose her king
    and Ashkelon will be deserted.
⁶ A mongrel people will occupy Ashdod,
    and I will put an end^(B) to the pride of the Philistines.
⁷ I will take the blood from their mouths,
    the forbidden food from between their teeth.
Those who are left will belong to our God^(C)
    and become a clan in Judah,
    and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.^(D)

“For three sins of Gaza,^(A)
    even for four, I will not relent.^(B)
Because she took captive whole communities
    and sold them to Edom,^(C)
7 I will send fire on the walls of Gaza
    that will consume her fortresses.
⁸ I will destroy the king^[a] of Ashdod^(D)
    and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon.
I will turn my hand^(E) against Ekron,
    till the last of the Philistines^(F) are dead,”^(G)
says the Sovereign Lord.^(H)

“See how the waters are rising in the north;^(C)
    they will become an overflowing torrent.
They will overflow the land and everything in it,
    the towns and those who live in them.
The people will cry out;
    all who dwell in the land will wail^(D)
3 at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds,
    at the noise of enemy chariots^(E)
    and the rumble of their wheels.
Parents will not turn to help their children;
    their hands will hang limp.^(F)
4 For the day has come
    to destroy all the Philistines
and to remove all survivors
    who could help Tyre^(G) and Sidon.^(H)
The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines,^(I)
    the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.^[a](J)
5 Gaza will shave^(K) her head in mourning;
    Ashkelon^(L) will be silenced.
You remnant on the plain,
    how long will you cut^(M) yourselves?

⁶ “‘Alas, sword^(N) of the Lord,
    how long till you rest?
Return to your sheath;
    cease and be still.’^(O)
7 But how can it rest
    when the Lord has commanded it,
when he has ordered it
    to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”^(P)

⁸ I will make their widows^(A) more numerous
    than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer^(B)
    against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
    anguish and terror.^(C)

⁴ “Prepare for battle against her!
    Arise, let us attack at noon!^(A)
But, alas, the daylight is fading,
    and the shadows of evening grow long.

⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.