Jeremiah 47

Contemporary English Version

What the Lord Says about the Philistines

47 ^(A) Before the king of Egypt attacked the town of Gaza,^[a] the Lord told me to say to the Philistines:

²I, the Lord, tell you
that your land will be flooded
    with an army from the north.
It will destroy your towns
and sweep you away,
    moaning and screaming.
³When you hear the thunder
of horses and chariots,
    your courage will vanish,
and parents will even abandon
    their own children.

⁴You refugees from Crete,^[b]
your time has now come,
    and I will destroy you.
None of you will be left
to help the cities
    of Tyre and Sidon.
⁵The Anakim who survive^[c]
    in Gaza and Ashkelon
will mourn for you
by shaving their heads
    and sitting in silence.
⁶You ask how long will I continue
    to attack you with my sword,
then you tell me to put it away
    and leave you alone.
⁷But how can my sword rest,
when I have commanded it
    to attack Ashkelon
    and the seacoast?

Footnotes

47.1 attacked the town of Gaza: One of the major Philistine towns; nothing is known about this attack.
47.4 Crete: Hebrew “Caphtor,” another name for Crete, the original homeland of the ancestors of the Philistines.
47.5 Anakim who survive: One ancient translation; Hebrew “people in the valley who survive.” The Anakim may have been a group of very large people that lived in Palestine before the Israelites (see Numbers 13.33; Deuteronomy 2.10,11, 20,21; and Joshua 11.21,22).