Jeremiah 47

1 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.

The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, the prophet, against the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza.

2 This is what the LORD says: “See how the waters are rising from the north and becoming an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and its fullness, the cities and their inhabitants. The people will cry out, and all who dwell in the land will wail

Thus says the Lord: “Behold, waters will rise up from the north, and they will be like an inundating torrent, and they will cover the land and its plenitude, the city and its inhabitants. The men will cry out, and all the inhabitants of the land will wail,

3 at the sound of the galloping hooves of stallions, the rumbling of chariots, and the clatter of their wheels. The fathers will not turn back for their sons; their hands will hang limp.

before the uproar of a procession of weapons and of his soldiers, before the commotion of his four-horse chariots and the multitude of his wheels. The fathers have not looked back for the sons, because of feebleness of hands,

4 For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally. Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.

because of the arrival of the day on which all the Philistines will be devastated, and Tyre and Sidon will be destroyed, with all the rest of their helpers. For the Lord has depopulated the Philistines, the remnant of the island of Cappadocia.

5 The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. O remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourself?

Baldness has arrived over Gaza. Ashkelon has been silenced, along with the remnant of their valley. And how long will you continue to be cut down?

6 ‘Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!’

O sharp sword of the Lord, how long will you be without rest? Enter your sheath; be refreshed and silenced.

7 How can it rest when the LORD has commanded it? He has appointed it against Ashkelon and the shore of its coastland.”

But how can it find rest, when the Lord has ordered it against Ashkelon and against its maritime regions, and when a task has been appointed to it there?”