Jeremiah 47: A Flood From the North Sweeps the Philistines
A short, forceful oracle pictures Gaza and Ashkelon overrun before an unstoppable army.
Continuing the oracles against the nations begun in Jeremiah 46, this short chapter targets the Philistines just before Pharaoh strikes Gaza. An invading flood from the north is pictured overwhelming Tyre, Sidon, and every remaining Philistine city.
This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.
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
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.
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.
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?
‘Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!’
How can it rest when the LORD has commanded it? He has appointed it against Ashkelon and the shore of its coastland.”