The Father's Sword Falls on Philistia
Our Father's flood rises out of the north over Philistia, so sudden that fathers do not turn back for their children. Gaza and Ashkelon mourn. It closes with the sword asked how long until it rests, and answered: not while it still has orders.
47 1The word of our Father to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza.
2This is what our Father says: "See, waters rise from the north, becoming a flooding torrent. They will flood the land and all in it, the city and its people. The people will cry out, and everyone living in the land will wail. 3At the sound of the pounding hooves of his stallions, at the rumble of his chariots and the roar of his wheels, fathers will not turn back for their children, their hands hanging limp, 4because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every survivor who could help. For our Father is destroying the Philistines, the remnant from the coastland of Caphtor. 5Gaza will shave its head in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. You remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourselves? 6Ah, sword of our Father! How long until you rest? Return to your sheath; be still and at peace. 7But how can it rest when our Father has given it a command? Against Ashkelon and against the seashore—that is where he has directed it."
