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What the Lord Says about the Philistines

47 (A) Before the king of Egypt attacked the town of Gaza,[a] the Lord told me to say to the Philistines:

I, the Lord, tell you
that your land will be flooded
    with an army from the north.
It will destroy your towns
and sweep you away,
    moaning and screaming.
When you hear the thunder
of horses and chariots,
    your courage will vanish,
and parents will even abandon
    their own children.

You refugees from Crete,[b]
your time has now come,
    and I will destroy you.
None of you will be left
to help the cities
    of Tyre and Sidon.
The Anakim who survive[c]
    in Gaza and Ashkelon
will mourn for you
by shaving their heads
    and sitting in silence.
You ask how long will I continue
    to attack you with my sword,
then you tell me to put it away
    and leave you alone.
But how can my sword rest,
when I have commanded it
    to attack Ashkelon
    and the seacoast?

Footnotes

  1. 47.1 attacked the town of Gaza: One of the major Philistine towns; nothing is known about this attack.
  2. 47.4 Crete: Hebrew “Caphtor,” another name for Crete, the original homeland of the ancestors of the Philistines.
  3. 47.5 Anakim who survive: One ancient translation; Hebrew “people in the valley who survive.” The Anakim may have been a group of very large people that lived in Palestine before the Israelites (see Numbers 13.33; Deuteronomy 2.10,11, 20,21; and Joshua 11.21,22).

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