Jeremiah 47

A Message About the Philistines

47A message came to me from the Lord. It was about the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.

²The Lord said,

“The armies of Babylonia are like waters rising in the north.

They will become a great flood.

They will flow over the land and everything in it.

They will flow over the towns and those who live in them.

The people will cry out.

All those who live in the land will sob.

³They will sob when they hear galloping horses.

They will sob at the noise of enemy chariots.

They will sob at the rumble of their wheels.

Fathers will not even try to help their children.

Their hands will not be able to help them.

⁴The day has come

to destroy all of the Philistines.

The time has come to cut off all those

who could help Tyre and Sidon.

I am about to destroy the Philistines.

I will not leave anyone alive

who came from the coasts of Crete.

⁵The people of Gaza will be so sad

they will shave their heads.

And Ashkelon’s people will be silent.

You who remain on the flatlands,

how long will you cut yourselves?

⁶“ ‘Sword of the Lord!’ you cry out.

‘How long will it be until you rest?

Return to the place you came from.

Stop killing us! Be still!’

⁷But how can my sword rest

when I have given it a command?

I have ordered it

to attack Ashkelon and the Philistine coast.”