1 ¶ The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh defeated Gaza.

2 Thus says the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and will be an overflowing flood, and will overflow the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those who dwell in it: then the men will shriek, and all the inhabitants of the land will howl.

3 At the sound of the tramping of the hoofs of his war horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers will not turn back for their children because their hands have no strength;

4 Because the day has come to take spoil from all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyre and Sidon any helper who remains: for the LORD will destroy the Philistines, and any who are left from the isle of Crete.

5 Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is destroyed. O remnant of their plain: how long will you cut yourselves?

6 O sword of the LORD, how long will it be before you are quiet? put yourself into your scabbard, rest, and be still.

7 How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD has given it an assignment and appointed it to go against Ashkelon, and against the seashore?