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Jeremiah 47

Jeremiah announces YHWH’s judgment against the Philistines, portraying war’s terror and a sword that cannot rest before its appointed work.

Jeremiah receives YHWH’s word concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh strikes Gaza. The oracle pictures an invading force from the north as a flood covering the land. Chariots thunder, fathers lose the strength to turn back for their children, and Philistine cities face destruction. Tyre and Sidon will lose their remaining helpers. The closing exchange asks when YHWH’s sword will rest, then answers that it has been commanded to strike the coast.

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1The LORD’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza.
2The LORD says: “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, and will overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein. The men will cry, and all the inhabitants of the land will wail.
3At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don’t look back for their children because their hands are so feeble,
4because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; for the LORD will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.
5Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing. You remnant of their valley, how long will you cut yourself?
6“‘You sword of the LORD, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself back into your scabbard; rest, and be still.’
7“How can you be quiet, since the LORD has given you a command? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there he has appointed it.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Jeremiah 47:6The plea for YHWH’s sword to rest brings the longing for an end to destruction into the oracle.
Jeremiah 47:4This verse names YHWH as the source of judgment and extends its effects to Tyre and Sidon.
Jeremiah 47:1The opening identifies the Philistines as the oracle’s subject and places Jeremiah’s message before Pharaoh’s attack on Gaza.
Where this chapter reaches

Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Zephaniah, and Zechariah also contain judgment oracles against the Philistines or their cities, sharing Jeremiah’s focus on the downfall of coastal powers. Amos also links the Philistines with Caphtor, the place associated with them here.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

Which detail in the description of the invasion most shapes your response to this oracle?

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What tension do you notice between the plea for the sword’s rest and the answer that follows?

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Questions people ask about Jeremiah 47

Who is attacking the Philistines in Jeremiah 47?

The opening mentions Pharaoh’s attack on Gaza, while the oracle describes an invading force coming from the north. That northern force is often understood as the Babylonian army, though the chapter does not name it. The text also leaves the Pharaoh unnamed and gives no date for either attack.

What does the sword of YHWH mean in Jeremiah 47?

The sword represents the warfare YHWH has appointed against Ashkelon and the seashore. Verse 6 addresses it as though it could hear a plea to rest; verse 7 answers that its command remains. The text does not make clear who voices the plea and the reply.

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Jeremiah · 52 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).