The Lord declares that a devastating flood of armies will rise from the north and overwhelm the Philistines, causing widespread destruction and despair. The Philistines will be devastated, and their allies, including Tyre and Sidon, will also be destroyed. The Lord has ordained this destruction, and the sword of the Lord will not rest until it has accomplished its task against Ashkelon and its surrounding regions.
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, the prophet, against the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza 2 Thus says the Lord: "Behold, waters will rise up from the north, and they will be like an inundating torrent, and they will cover the land and its plenitude, the city and its inhabitants. The men will cry out, and all the inhabitants of the land will wail 3 before the uproar of a procession of weapons and of his soldiers, before the commotion of his four-horse chariots and the multitude of his wheels. The fathers have not looked back for the sons, because of feebleness of hands 4 because of the arrival of the day on which all the Philistines will be devastated, and Tyre and Sidon will be destroyed, with all the rest of their helpers. For the Lord has depopulated the Philistines, the remnant of the island of Cappadocia 5 Baldness has arrived over Gaza. Ashkelon has been silenced, along with the remnant of their valley. And how long will you continue to be cut down 6 O sharp sword of the Lord, how long will you be without rest? Enter your sheath; be refreshed and silenced 7 But how can it find rest, when the Lord has ordered it against Ashkelon and against its maritime regions, and when a task has been appointed to it there?