Jeremiah 47 KJV
Oracle Against the Philistines
Jeremiah Chapter 47: Oracle Against the Philistines
The superscription tying the oracle to Pharaoh Nechoโs smiting of Gaza supplies a precise synchronism with Egyptian incursions of 609โ605 BCE that is otherwise unattested in biblical or extra-biblical sources.
1he word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;
4 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
5 Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
6 O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
7 How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it.
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Did You Know?
The superscription tying the oracle to Pharaoh Nechoโs smiting of Gaza supplies a precise synchronism with Egyptian incursions of 609โ605 BCE that is otherwise unattested in biblical or extra-biblical sources.
Verse 4โs explicit linkage of the Philistines to Caphtor (Crete/Aegean) echoes the migration traditions of Amos 9:7 and Deuteronomy 2:23, underscoring that YHWHโs judgment reaches even to the ancestral homeland of Israelโs ancient coastal foes.
The rhetorical address to โthe sword of the LORDโ in verse 6, urging it to rest, momentarily personifies divine wrath and reveals the prophetโs dramatic, almost intercessory stance within an otherwise unrelenting judgment oracle.
The โwaters rising out of the northโ in verse 2 adapt the primeval flood motif (Genesis 7, Isaiah 8) to military hydrology, evoking the seasonal inundations and chariot tactics of Babylonian campaigns along the coastal plain.
By naming Tyre and Sidon as โhelpers that remainโ to be cut off (v. 4), the chapter widens the scope from Philistia alone to the entire Levantine seaboard, anticipating Nebuchadnezzarโs systematic reduction of every maritime power that might aid Egypt.