Judgment on the Philistines

¹The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh conquered Gaza.[#Eze 25:15–17; #Ge 10:19; Jer 25:20]

²Thus says the Lord :

Behold, waters rise up out of the north

and will be an overflowing flood,

and will overflow the land, and all that is in it,

the city and those who dwell in it.

Then the men shall cry out

and all the inhabitants of the land will howl

³at the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses,[#Jdg 5:22; Jer 8:16]

at the rushing of his chariots,

and at the rumbling of his wheels.

The fathers will not look back to their children

because of the feebleness of their hands,

⁴because of the day that comes

to destroy all the Philistines

and to cut off from Tyre and Sidon

every helper that remains.

For the Lord will destroy the Philistines,

the remnant of the country of Caphtor.

⁵Baldness has come upon Gaza;[#Jer 25:20; 48:37]

Ashkelon has been cut off.

O remnant of their valley,

how long shall you gash yourself?

⁶O sword of the Lord ,[#Jer 12:12; Eze 21:3–5]

how long shall you not be quiet?

Withdraw into your sheath,

rest, and be still.

⁷How can it be quiet,

seeing the Lord has given it a charge

against Ashkelon and against the sea shore?

There He has appointed it.