Jeremiah 25:20

25:20 the foreigners living in Egypt; ¹  all the kings of the land of Uz; ²  all the kings of the land of the Philistines, ³  the people of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, the people who had been left alive from Ashdod; ⁴ 

Jeremiah 47:1-7

Judgment on the Philistine Cities

47:1 The Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah ⁵  about the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. ⁶ 

47:2 “Look! Enemies are gathering in the north like water rising in a river. ⁷ 

They will be like an overflowing stream.

They will overwhelm the whole country and everything in it like a flood.

They will overwhelm the cities and their inhabitants.

People will cry out in alarm.

Everyone living in the country will cry out in pain.

47:3 Fathers will hear the hoofbeats of the enemies’ horses,

the clatter of their chariots and the rumbling of their wheels.

They will not turn back to save their children

because they will be paralyzed with fear. ⁸ 

47:4 For the time has come

to destroy all the Philistines.

The time has come to destroy all the help

that remains for Tyre ⁹  and Sidon. ¹⁰ 

For I, the Lord, will ¹¹  destroy the Philistines,

that remnant that came from the island of Crete. ¹² 

47:5 The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning.

The people of Ashkelon will be struck dumb.

How long will you gash yourselves to show your sorrow, ¹³ 

you who remain of Philistia’s power? ¹⁴ 

47:6 How long will you cry out, ¹⁵  ‘Oh, sword of the Lord,

how long will it be before you stop killing? ¹⁶ 

Go back into your sheath!

Stay there and rest!’ ¹⁷ 

47:7 But how can it rest ¹⁸ 

when I, the Lord, have ¹⁹  given it orders?

I have ordered it to attack

the people of Ashkelon and the seacoast. ²⁰ 

Ezekiel 25:15-17

A Prophecy Against Philistia

25:15 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The Philistines ²¹  have exacted merciless revenge, ²²  showing intense scorn ²³  in their effort to destroy Judah ²⁴  with unrelenting hostility. ²⁵  25:16 So this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note, I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines. I will kill ²⁶  the Cherethites ²⁷  and destroy those who remain on the seacoast. 25:17 I will exact great vengeance upon them with angry rebukes. ²⁸  Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I exact my vengeance upon them.’”

Amos 1:6-8

1:6 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Gaza ²⁹  has committed three crimes ³⁰  –

make that four! ³¹  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³² 

They deported a whole community ³³  and sold them ³⁴  to Edom.

1:7 So I will set Gaza’s city wall ³⁵  on fire;

fire ³⁶  will consume her fortresses.

1:8 I will remove ³⁷  the ruler ³⁸  from Ashdod, ³⁹ 

the one who holds the royal scepter from Ashkelon. ⁴⁰ 

I will strike Ekron ⁴¹  with my hand; ⁴² 

the rest of the Philistines will also die.” ⁴³ 

The sovereign Lord has spoken!

Zechariah 9:5-7

9:5 Ashkelon will see and be afraid; Gaza will be in great anguish, as will Ekron, for her hope will have been dried up. ⁴⁴  Gaza will lose her king, and Ashkelon will no longer be inhabited. 9:6 A mongrel people will live in Ashdod, for I will greatly humiliate the Philistines. 9:7 I will take away their abominable religious practices; ⁴⁵  then those who survive will become a community of believers in our God, ⁴⁶  like a clan in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.

[25:20]  ¹ tn The meaning of this term and its connection with the preceding is somewhat uncertain. This word is used of the mixture of foreign people who accompanied Israel out of Egypt (Exod 12:38) and of the foreigners that the Israelites were to separate out of their midst in the time of Nehemiah (Neh 13:3). Most commentators interpret it here of the foreign people who were living in Egypt. (See BDB 786 s.v. I עֶרֶב and KBL 733 s.v. II עֶרֶב.)

[25:20]  ² sn The land of Uz was Job’s homeland (Job 1:1). The exact location is unknown but its position here between Egypt and the Philistine cities suggests it is south of Judah, probably in the Arabian peninsula. Lam 4:21 suggests that it was near Edom.

[25:20]  ³ sn See further Jer 47:1-7 for the judgment against the Philistines. The Philistine cities were west of Judah.

[25:20]  ⁴ sn The Greek historian Herodotus reports that Ashdod had been destroyed under the Pharaoh who preceded Necho, Psammetichus.

[47:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “That which came [as] the word of the Lord to Jeremiah.” For this same construction see 14:1; 46:1 and see the translator’s note at 14:1 for explanation.

[47:1]  ⁶ sn The precise dating of this prophecy is uncertain. Several proposals have been suggested, the most likely of which is that the prophecy was delivered in 609 b.c. in conjunction with Pharaoh Necho’s advance into Palestine to aid the Assyrians. That was the same year that Josiah was killed by Necho at the battle of Megiddo and four years before Necho was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, the foe from the north. The prophecy presupposes that Ashkelon is still in existence (v. 5) hence it must be before 604 b.c. For a fairly complete discussion of the options see G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 (WBC), 299-300.

[47:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “Behold! Waters are rising from the north.” The metaphor of enemy armies compared to overflowing water is seen also in Isa 8:8-9 (Assyria) and 46:7-8 (Egypt). Here it refers to the foe from the north (Jer 1:14; 4:6; etc) which is specifically identified with Babylon in Jer 25. The metaphor has been turned into a simile in the translation to help the average reader identify that a figure is involved and to hint at the referent.

[47:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “From the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions, from the rattling of his chariots at the rumbling of their wheels, fathers will not turn to their children from sinking of hands.” According to BDB 952 s.v. רִפָּיוֹן the “sinking of the hands” is figurative of helplessness caused by terror. A very similar figure is seen with a related expression in Isa 35:3-4. The sentence has been restructured to put the subject up front and to suggest through shorter sentences more in keeping with contemporary English style the same causal connections. The figures have been interpreted for the sake of clarity for the average reader.

[47:4]  ⁹ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[47:4]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[47:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “For the Lord will.” The first person style has been adopted because the Lord is speaking (cf. v. 2).

[47:4]  ¹² sn All the help that remains for Tyre and Sidon and that remnant that came from the island of Crete appear to be two qualifying phrases that refer to the Philistines, the last with regard to their origin and the first with regard to the fact that they were allies that Tyre and Sidon depended on. “Crete” is literally “Caphtor” which is generally identified with the island of Crete. The Philistines had come from there (Amos 9:7) in the wave of migration from the Aegean Islands during the twelfth and eleventh century and had settled on the Philistine plain after having been repulsed from trying to enter Egypt.

[47:5]  ¹³ sn Shaving one’s head and gashing one’s body were customs to show mourning or sadness for the dead (cf. Deut 14:1; Mic 1:16; Ezek 27:31; Jer 16:6; 48:37).

[47:5]  ¹⁴ tn Or “you who are left alive on the Philistine plain.” Or “you who remain of the Anakim.” The translation follows the suggestion of several of the modern commentaries that the word עֵמֶק (’emeq) means “strength” or “power” here (see J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 698; J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 310; and see also HALOT 803 s.v. II עֵמֶק). It is a rare homonym of the word that normally means “valley” that seems to be an inappropriate designation of the Philistine plain. Many of the modern English versions and commentaries follow the Greek version which reads here “remnant of the Anakim” (עֲנָקִים [’anaqim] instead of עִמְקָם [’imqam], a confusion of basically one letter). This emendation is followed by both BDB 771 s.v. עֵמֶק and KBL 716 s.v. עֵמֶק. The Anakim were generally associated with the southern region around Hebron but an enclave of them was known to have settled in Gaza, Gath, and Ekron, three of the Philistine cities (cf. Josh 11:22). However, the fact that this judgment is directed against the Philistines not the Anakim and that this homonym apparently appears also in Jer 49:4 makes the reading of “power” more likely here.

[47:6]  ¹⁵ tn The words “How long will you cry out” are not in the text but some such introduction seems necessary because the rest of the speech assumes a personal subject.

[47:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “before you are quiet/at rest.”

[47:6]  ¹⁷ sn The passage is highly figurative. The sword of the Lord, which is itself a figure of the destructive agency of the enemy armies, is here addressed as a person and is encouraged in rhetorical questions (the questions are designed to dissuade) to “be quiet,” “be at rest,” “be silent,” all of which is designed to get the Lord to call off the destruction against the Philistines.

[47:7]  ¹⁸ tn The reading here follows the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions. The Hebrew text reads “how can you rest” as a continuation of the second person in v. 6.

[47:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “When the Lord has.” The first person is again adopted because the Lord has been speaking.

[47:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Against Ashkelon and the sea coast, there he has appointed it.” For the switch to the first person see the preceding translator’s note. “There” is poetical and redundant and the idea of “attacking” is implicit in “against.”

[25:15]  ²¹ sn The Philistines inhabited the coastal plain by the Mediterranean Sea, west of Judah.

[25:15]  ²² tn Heb “have acted with vengeance and taken vengeance with vengeance.” The repetition emphasizes the degree of vengeance which they exhibited, presumably toward Judah.

[25:15]  ²³ tn Heb “with scorn in (the) soul.”

[25:15]  ²⁴ tn The object is not specified in the Hebrew text, but has been clarified as “Judah” in the translation.

[25:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to destroy (with) perpetual hostility.” Joel 3:4-8 also speaks of the Philistines taking advantage of the fall of Judah.

[25:16]  ²⁶ tn In Hebrew the verb “and I will cut off” sounds like its object, “the Cherethites,” and draws attention to the statement.

[25:16]  ²⁷ sn This is a name for the Philistines, many of whom migrated to Palestine from Crete.

[25:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “with acts of punishment of anger.”

[1:6]  ²⁹ sn Gaza was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath). It was considered to mark the southern limit of Canaan at the point on the coast where it was located (Gen 10:19).

[1:6]  ³⁰ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

[1:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “Because of three violations of Gaza, even because of four.”

[1:6]  ³² tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.

[1:6]  ³³ tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A number of English translations take this as a collective singular and translate it with a plural (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[1:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “in order to hand them over.”

[1:7]  ³⁵ sn The city wall symbolizes the city’s defenses and security.

[1:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:8]  ³⁷ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:8]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the one who sits.” Some translations take this expression as a collective singular referring to the inhabitants rather than the ruler (e.g., NAB, NRSV, NLT).

[1:8]  ³⁹ sn Ashdod was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashkelon, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath).

[1:8]  ⁴⁰ sn Ashkelon was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath).

[1:8]  ⁴¹ sn Ekron was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, and Gath).

[1:8]  ⁴² tn Heb “I will turn my hand against Ekron.” For other uses of the idiom, “turn the hand against,” see Ps 81:14; Isa 1:25; Jer 6:9; Zech 13:7.

[1:8]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and the remnant of the Philistines will perish.” The translation above assumes that reference is made to other Philistines beside those living in the cities mentioned. Another option is to translate, “Every last Philistine will die.”

[9:5]  ⁴⁴ tn The present translation presupposes a Hiphil perfect of יָבֵשׁ (yavesh, “be dry”; cf. NRSV “are withered”) rather than the usually accepted Hiphil of בּוֹשׁ (bosh, “be ashamed”; cf. KJV, ASV), a sense that is less suitable with the removal of hope.

[9:7]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and I will take away their blood from their mouth and their abominations from between their teeth.” These expressions refer to some type of abominable religious practices, perhaps eating meat with the blood still in it (less likely NCV “drinking blood”) or eating unclean or forbidden foods.

[9:7]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and they will be a remnant for our God”; cf. NIV “will belong to our God”; NLT “will worship our God.”