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47. Message About Philistines

¹ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:

² This is what the LORD says:

   “See how the waters are rising in the north;
   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
³ at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds,
   at the noise of enemy chariots
   and the rumble of their wheels.
Parents will not turn to help their children;
   their hands will hang limp.
⁴ For the day has come
   to destroy all the Philistines
and to remove all survivors
   who could help Tyre and Sidon.
The LORD is about to destroy the Philistines,
   the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor. That is, Crete
⁵ Gaza will shave her head in mourning;
   Ashkelon will be silenced.
You remnant on the plain,
   how long will you cut yourselves?

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

Some take it, ה, he, as meaning the land itself; but as it immediately follows, against Ashkelon and against the seashore, it is better to explain it as above.

By the sea-shore some understand Joppa; but it is probable that the Prophet includes the whole coast, and that he thus still speaks of Tyre, and Sidon, and Gaza, though he names Ashkelon, which was a little distant from the sea. When, therefor, God commanded his sword against Ashkelon and all the cities which were by the sea-shore, the execution of his judgement could not be prevented in that region. He further adds, he hath commanded it; but it is in a solemn manner, and hence I have rendered the words, he hath called it to witness, or protested it. He then intimates that God had not simply given his sword a command to commit slaughters through the whole land, but bound his sword, as it were, by solemn protest; as though he had said, that this decree could not be revoked, because Godwill not only command his sword to execute his vengeance, but will also give it a solemn command, and bind it, as it were, by an oath, never to cease from its work until the whole people, and all the cities, and the whole land, should be destroyed together.