Jeremiah
Chapter 47
Against the Philistines
This is the Lord’s word to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.
Thus says the Lord: “Look, waters rise from the north; soon they will become a raging flood, overflowing the land and everything in it, including the towns and their inhabitants. All residents in the land will wail
at the sound of the hooves of stampeding steeds, the rattle of chariots, and the rumbling of wheels. Parents will forget their children as their hands fall limp.
The day of ruin has come upon the Philistines; Tyre and Sidon, their last allies, are cut off from them. The Lord is ready to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.
Gaza is shaved bald, Ashkelon has fallen. O remnant in the valley, how long will you wound yourselves?
O sword of the Lord, how long before you rest? Return to your scabbard, stop, and be still!
But how can it rest when it is the Lord who commanded it to attack Ashkelon and the seacoast?”
Commentaries
Against the Philistines.
The Philistines were Israel’s enemies for many years; they are frequently mentioned in collections of prophetic oracles, including Isaiah 14:29, Ezekiel 25:15, Amos 1:6, Zephaniah 2:4, and Zechariah 9:5-7. The reference to “waters rising in the north” (2) or a flooded river relates to the empire originating from the region bordered by the two most important northern rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates.