“See how the waters are rising in the north;

they will become an overflowing torrent.

They will overflow the land and everything in it,

the towns and those who live in them.

The people will cry out;

all who dwell in the land will wail

3at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds,

at the noise of enemy chariots

and the rumble of their wheels.

Parents will not turn to help their children;

their hands will hang limp.

4For the day has come

to destroy all the Philistines

and to remove all survivors

who could help Tyre and Sidon.

The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines,

the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor. ^a

5Gaza will shave her head in mourning;

Ashkelon will be silenced.

You remnant on the plain,

how long will you cut yourselves?

6“ ‘Alas, sword of the Lord,

how long till you rest?

Return to your sheath;

cease and be still.’

7But how can it rest

when the Lord has commanded it,

when he has ordered it

to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”