Jeremiah 47

This is the message the LORD gave to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines. It came before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, attacked and struck down the city of Gaza.

1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.

NoteThe Philistines were a people living in five cities along the coastal plain southwest of Judah, Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath. They were not Israelites and spoke a different language; they had been Israel's rivals for centuries. "Pharaoh" is not a personal name but the title of the king of Egypt, like "Caesar" or "Tsar". Gaza was the southernmost Philistine city and the first one an army marching up from Egypt would reach.

2This is what the LORD says: Look, waters are rising up out of the north. They will become a flood that spills over everything. They will cover the land and all that is in it, the cities and the people living in them. Then the people will cry out, and everyone who lives in the land will wail.

2Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.

NoteRising water coming "out of the north" is a standard prophetic image for an invading army. Invaders from Mesopotamia, here the Babylonians, could not cross the desert directly, so they swung up and around it and entered the land from the north; "the north" therefore meant "the enemy" to Jeremiah's hearers. The flood language is a comparison, not a prediction of literal water.

3They will cry at the noise of pounding hoofs of the enemy's strong horses, at the rush of his chariots, and at the rumble of his wheels. Fathers will not even turn back to help their own children, because their hands hang limp with fear.

3At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;

NoteChariots were the fastest and most feared weapon of the age, light two-wheeled carts pulled by horses, carrying a driver and an archer or spearman. Hands hanging limp is an ancient idiom for helplessness and terror; the picture is of fathers so paralyzed by fear that they run without even glancing back at their own children.

4All this happens because the day is coming to destroy every one of the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper they have left. For the LORD is destroying the Philistines, the people who are left from the coast of Caphtor.

4Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.

NoteTyre and Sidon were wealthy Phoenician port cities on the coast north of Israel, in what is now Lebanon. They and the Philistine cities depended on one another for ships, trade and troops, so the fall of the Philistines cut off Tyre and Sidon's remaining allies. Caphtor is generally understood to be Crete or the Aegean region more widely; other passages say the Philistines originally came from there by sea, so calling them "what is left of Caphtor" identifies them by their distant homeland.

5The people of Gaza have shaved their heads in grief. Ashkelon has been silenced, along with the rest of the people in their valley. How long will you keep cutting yourself?

5Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?

NoteShaving the head and cutting one's own skin were recognized public mourning customs among Israel's neighbors, visible, physical signs of grief and desperation, done in the streets rather than in private. Israelite law forbade both practices, which is part of why the prophet describes the Philistines doing them. Ashkelon was another of the five Philistine cities, on the coast north of Gaza. "Silenced" here means destroyed and left without inhabitants, not merely quiet.

6You cry out, "Sword of the LORD, how long before you are quiet? Go back into your sheath. Rest, and be still."

6O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.

NoteA sheath (the King James word is "scabbard") is the case a sword is carried in; putting the sword back in it means the fighting has stopped. The words in quotation marks are the cry of the people under attack, addressing the sword itself as if it could hear, a common figure in Hebrew poetry.

7But how can it be quiet, when the LORD himself has given it an order? He has sent it against Ashkelon and against the shore of the sea. That is where he has assigned it.

7How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it.

Note"The shore of the sea" is the Philistine coastal plain, the strip of land along the Mediterranean where all five of their cities stood; naming it is another way of naming the whole Philistine territory.