Jeremiah 47
Contemporary English Version
What the Lord Says about the Philistines
47 (A) Before the king of Egypt attacked the town of Gaza,[a] the Lord told me to say to the Philistines:
2 I, the Lord, tell you
that your land will be flooded
with an army from the north.
It will destroy your towns
and sweep you away,
moaning and screaming.
3 When you hear the thunder
of horses and chariots,
your courage will vanish,
and parents will even abandon
their own children.
4 You refugees from Crete,[b]
your time has now come,
and I will destroy you.
None of you will be left
to help the cities
of Tyre and Sidon.
5 The Anakim who survive[c]
in Gaza and Ashkelon
will mourn for you
by shaving their heads
and sitting in silence.
6 You ask how long will I continue
to attack you with my sword,
then you tell me to put it away
and leave you alone.
7 But how can my sword rest,
when I have commanded it
to attack Ashkelon
and the seacoast?
Footnotes
- 47.1 attacked the town of Gaza: One of the major Philistine towns; nothing is known about this attack.
- 47.4 Crete: Hebrew “Caphtor,” another name for Crete, the original homeland of the ancestors of the Philistines.
- 47.5 Anakim who survive: One ancient translation; Hebrew “people in the valley who survive.” The Anakim may have been a group of very large people that lived in Palestine before the Israelites (see Numbers 13.33; Deuteronomy 2.10,11, 20,21; and Joshua 11.21,22).
Jeremiah 47
English Standard Version
Judgment on the Philistines
47 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet (A)concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck down (B)Gaza.
2 “Thus says the Lord:
(C)Behold, waters are rising (D)out of the north,
(E)and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow (F)the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who dwell in it.
Men shall cry out,
and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
(G)at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
the fathers (H)look not back to their children,
so feeble are their hands,
4 because of the day that is coming to destroy
all (I)the Philistines,
to cut off from (J)Tyre and Sidon
every helper that remains.
For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,
(K)the remnant of the coastland of (L)Caphtor.
5 (M)Baldness has come upon Gaza;
(N)Ashkelon has perished.
O remnant of their valley,
(O)how long will you gash yourselves?
6 (P)Ah, sword of the Lord!
How long till you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard;
rest and be still!
7 How can it[a] be quiet
(Q)when the Lord has given it a charge?
Against (R)Ashkelon and against the seashore
(S)he has appointed it.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 47:7 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew you
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