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The Judgment on the Philistines

(Zephaniah 2:4-7)

¹ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines before Pharaoh conquered Gaza.² This is what the LORD says: “See how the waters are rising from the north and becoming an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and its fullness, the cities and their inhabitants. The people will cry out, and all who dwell in the land will wail³ at the sound of the galloping hooves of stallions, the rumbling of chariots, and the clatter of their wheels. The fathers will not turn back for their sons; their hands will hang limp.⁴ For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally. Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor^(a).⁵ The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. O remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourself?⁶ ‘Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!’⁷ How can it rest when the LORD has commanded it? He has appointed it against Ashkelon and the shore of its coastland.”