1 What came as the word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah about the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza.
2 "Thus says the LORD: Look, waters are rising from the north and will become a flooding torrent; they will flood the land and everything in it, the city and those who live in it. Men will cry out, and all who live in the land will howl.
3 At the sound of the pounding hoofs of his mighty steeds, at the rattle of his chariots and the rumble of his wheels, fathers do not look back for their sons, because their hands hang limp,
4 because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who survives; for the LORD is destroying the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
5 Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is silenced, the remnant of their valley. How long will you gash yourself?
6 Ah, sword of the LORD! How long until you are quiet? Gather yourself into your sheath; rest and be still!
7 How can it be quiet, when the LORD has given it orders? Against Ashkelon and against the seacoast, there he has appointed it."