Prophecy against Philistia

1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked and conquered [the Philistine city of] Gaza. 2Thus says the LORD:

“Behold, waters are going to rise out of the north (Babylonia)

And become an overflowing stream

And overflow the land and all that is in it,

The city and those who live in it.

Then the people will cry out,

And all the inhabitants of the land [of Philistia] will wail.

3“Because of the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of the war-horses [of the Babylonian king],

The rattling of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels,

The fathers have not looked and turned back for their children,

So weak are their hands [with terror]

4Because of the day that is coming

To destroy all the Philistines

And to cut off from Tyre and Sidon

Every ally who remains.

For the LORD is going to destroy the Philistines,

The remnant [still surviving] of the coastland of [a]Caphtor.

5“Baldness [as a sign of mourning] will come on Gaza;

Ashkelon will be cut off and ruined.

O remnant of their valley,

How long will you gash yourselves [as a sign of mourning]?

6“O you sword of the LORD,

How long will it be before you are quiet?

Put yourself into your sheath;

Rest and be still.

7“How can His sword be quiet

When the LORD has given it an order?

Against Ashkelon and against the [whole Philistine] seashore

There He has assigned it.”