Jeremiahchapter 47
7 verses · Jeremiah, written by Baruch · 7th to 6th century BC · The Prophets
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.
Introduction
Jeremiah, written by Baruch, The Prophets, Jeremiah Overview.
This short oracle concerns the Philistines, Israel's neighbours on the southern coast since the days of the judges. By Jeremiah's time their cities were small trading states caught between Egypt and Babylon. The poem was given before a Pharaoh struck Gaza, and it speaks of an enemy coming from the north like a river in flood. Listen for the measure of terror it gives, taken from the life of a family, and for the question addressed at the end to a weapon. It is judgment spoken with the grief of a funeral.
Context
- Who
- Judeans watching a neighbouring people be erased from the map
- What
- A short poem of judgment on the Philistine cities of Gaza and Ashkelon and on their allies Tyre and Sidon.
- Where
- The Philistine plain on the southern coast of Canaan, with Gaza and Ashkelon named.
- When
- Before a Pharaoh attacked Gaza, as the heading states, a date that may fall in 609 BC under Neco or about 600 BC, and the evidence does not settle which.
- Why
- To announce that an invader from the north would sweep over Philistia because the LORD had appointed it.
Historical context
The Philistine cities sat on the coastal highway, the main road between Egypt and the north, which made them rich in peacetime and the first stop for every invading army. Gaza and Ashkelon were among the five chief cities.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The oracle opens with Pharaoh striking Gaza, a reminder that Egypt worked the same road, and then describes waters rising out of the north to flood the land, the standard picture in this book for the Babylonian advance. In 604 BC Nebuchadnezzar took Ashkelon and destroyed it; the Babylonian Chronicle says he turned it into a ruin heap, and excavation at the site has found a thick burnt destruction layer from exactly that season, with smashed storage jars and the debris of a winery still in place.
The chapter says the Philistines were the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor. That points to their origin overseas, generally understood as Crete and the Aegean, which fits the distinctive foreign pottery that appears on that coast when the Philistines first arrive.
The mourning customs named are theirs, not Israel's: baldness has come upon Gaza, and the people gash themselves. Shaving the head and cutting the skin were widespread grief rituals in that world, and the Law forbade Israelites to copy them.
Significance
The first hearers had grown up on stories of Philistine wars going back to Samson and David. Watching that ancient enemy simply cease to exist would have been sobering rather than satisfying.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The closing question is the point. The sword of the LORD is asked how long until it is quiet, and told to put itself back in the scabbard, and it does not. Judah was next on the same road.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for this lane, printed no weekly portion and no Haftarah from this chapter, and no festival reading for the book. That table carries the Haftarah of each of the fifty-four weekly portions and the books read whole at the feasts, and it carries nothing for the special Sabbaths or the fast days. This card therefore names no public reading of the chapter and leaves that question to a source that holds those readings.
How it is read
Rashi is the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Every quotation of it is held to fifty words or fewer because the translation is modern, and his headwords, which carry the verse in that translation's wording, are never quoted.
Rashi dates the oracle on the Philistines by Seder Olam. During the siege of Jerusalem in Zedekiah's tenth year, Pharaoh's army came out, the Chaldeans withdrew, and "Pharaoh heard, invaded Gaza and returned to his land" (Rashi on Jeremiah 47:1:2). The cutting off from Tyre and Sidon follows from an alliance: "The Philistines were aiding them against their enemies" (Rashi on Jeremiah 47:4:1).
The word for the stamping of hooves in the third verse, he notes, has no match elsewhere in Scripture, and he gives Targum Jonathan's rendering of it as steps (Rashi on Jeremiah 47:3:1). The sword of the Lord is the one "Which the Holy One, Blessed be He, brings to the world" (Rashi on Jeremiah 47:6:1). The tearing of flesh in the fifth verse is tearing "in mourning and in weeping" (Rashi on Jeremiah 47:5:2).
The corpus carries twelve further notes on this chapter without an English text. Each is marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref, so each is cited here and none is quoted. The notes of Metzudat David are cited at Metzudat David on Jeremiah 47:1:1, 47:2:1, 47:4:1 and 47:7:1. The notes of Radak are cited at Radak on Jeremiah 47:1:1, 47:2:1, 47:4:1, 47:5:1, 47:6:1 and 47:7:1. The notes of Malbim are cited at Malbim on Jeremiah 47:2:1 and 47:7:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries seven rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the second verse it holds Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 20:2. On the third verse it holds Bekhorot 5b:4, Ein Yaakov, Bekhorot 1:4 and Sanhedrin 106a:14. On the seventh verse it holds Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 24:1. The corpus also prints two locators anchored past the chapter's last verse, the seventh, cited here with the anchor it gives. It prints Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:91 at Jeremiah 47:10. It prints Midrash Aggadah, Exodus 6:3:3 at Jeremiah 47:21. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Jeremiah 47:1:2 to 47:6:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Jeremiah 47:1:1, 47:2:1, 47:4:1 and 47:7:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on Jeremiah 47:1:1, 47:2:1, 47:4:1, 47:5:1, 47:6:1 and 47:7:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on Jeremiah 47:2:1 and 47:7:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/jeremiah/47.json, the 7 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, printing no portion and no Haftarah for this chapter and no festival reading for this book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Waters Rising Out of the North Against Philistia
about the Philistines before Pharaoh struck down Gaza: The heading dates the oracle “before Pharaoh struck down Gaza,” and Keil and Henry leave open whether this Pharaoh was Neco or Hophra. Verse 2 pictures the invader as waters “rising from the north and becoming an overflowing torrent,” the flood image Egypt used in 46:7-8.
Jeremiah 47:1
“Pharaoh-necho probably smote Gaza on his return after defeating Josiah at Megiddo (2Ch 35:20) [GROTIUS]. Or, Pharaoh-hophra (Jer 37:5, 7) is intended: probably on his return from his fruitless attempt to save Jerusalem from the Chaldeans, he smote Gaza in order that his expedition might not be thought altogether in vain [CALVIN] (Am 1:6, 7).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 47:2
“Waters rise up out of the north - Waters is a common prophetic image for a multitude of people. The north here, as in other places of this prophecy, means Chaldea.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 47:2
“The Chaldean army shall overflow the land like a deluge. Probably this happened before the destruction of Jerusalem, for it should seem that in Gedaliah's time, which was just after, the army of the Chaldeans was quite withdrawn out of those parts. The country of the Philistines was but of small extent, so that it would soon be overwhelmed by so vast an army.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 47:2
“The Chaldeans from the north are compared to the overwhelming waters of their own Euphrates. The smiting of Gaza was to be only the prelude of a greater disaster to the Philistines. Nebuzara-dan was left by Nebuchadnezzar, after he had taken Jerusalem, to subdue the rest of the adjoining cities and country.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
at the sound of the galloping hooves of stallions: “The fathers will not turn back for their sons; their hands will hang limp.” Verse 4 calls the Philistines “the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor,” the origin that Amos 9:7 and Deuteronomy 2:23 also give them. The same day cuts off “from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally.”
Jeremiah 47:3
“His strong horses - War-horses, chargers. The rushing of his chariots - Rather, the rattling, the crashing noise which they make as they advance. For feebleness of hands - The Philistines flee in such panic that a father would not even turn round to see whether his sons were effecting their escape or not.”
Jeremiah 47:4
“To spoil all the Philistines - These people, of whom there were five seignories, occupied the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, to the south of the Phoenicians. Tyrus and Zidon - Places sufficiently remarkable both in the Old and New Testament, and in profane history. They belonged to the Phoenicians; and at this time were depending on the succor of their allies, the Philistines. But their expectation was cut off. The remnant of the country of Caphtor - Crete, or Cyprus.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 47:4
“Perhaps before the time of Moses they dwelt near and were subjugated by the Caphtorim (De 2:23) and subsequently delivered. "The remnant" means here those still left after the Egyptians had attacked Gaza and Palestine; or rather, those left of the Caphtorim after the Chaldeans had attacked them previous to their attack on the Philistines.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ashkelon Cut Off: How Can the Sword Be Quiet?vv. 5-7
The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning: Shaved heads and gashed skin were mourning rites the law forbade Israel (Leviticus 19:28; Deuteronomy 14:1), and the text records them in Gaza and Ashkelon. The cry asking the sword of the LORD to rest is answered that it cannot rest while the LORD has commanded it.
Jeremiah 47:5
“Baldness - Extreme mourning (see Jer 16:6). Is cut off - Others render, is speechless through grief. With the remnant of their valley - Others, O remnant of their valley, how long wilt thou cut thyself? Their valley is that of Gaza and Ashkelon, the low-lying plain, usually called the Shefelah, which formed the territory of the Philistines. The reading of the Septuagint is remarkable: “the remnant of the Anakim,” which probably would mean Gath, the home of giants 1Sa 17:4. Jer 47:6. Or, Alas, Sword of Yahweh, how long wilt thou not rest? For the answer, see Jer 47:7.”
3 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 47:5
“Baldness is come upon Gaza,.... The Targum is, "vengeance is come to the inhabitants of Gaza.'' It is become like a man whose hair is fallen from his head, or is clean shaved off; its houses were demolished; its inhabitants slain, and their wealth plundered; a pillaged and depopulated place.”
Jeremiah 47:5
The Septuagint reads Anakim, the remains of whom were settled in those regions (Nu 13:28). Joshua dislodged them so that none were left but in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (Jos 11:21, 22). But the parallel (Jer 47:7), "Ashkelon . . . the sea-shore," established English Version here, "Ashkelon . . . their valley."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 47:5
“TRAVELERS in the East tell us that among the most melancholy scenes they witness is the following: Men inflict upon themselves very grievous voluntary wounds and then exhibit themselves in public. They even disfigure themselves with gashes and cuts in the presence of excited throngs. I am speaking of what has occurred even within the last few years among the Muslims.”
Jeremiah 47:6
“O thou sword of the Lord - This is a most grand prosopopoeia - a dialogue between the sword of the Lord and the prophet. Nothing can be imagined more sublime. Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still - Shed no more blood, destroy no more lives, erase no more cities, desolate no more countries. Rest: - hast thou not been long enough at this work of judgment? O be still: - let wars and desolations cease for ever.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 47:6
“He calls Nebuchadnezzar "the sword of the Lord," for he does those things by God's permission, and the impious pay the penalty for their ungodliness at one another's hands.”
Theodoret of Cyrus · written before 458 · On Jeremiah 9:47patristic
Jeremiah 47:6
“They were considerably humbled in David's time, but, it seems they had got head again and were a considerable people till Nebuchadnezzar cut them off with their neighbours, which is the event here foretold. The date of this prophecy is observable; it was before Pharaoh smote Gaza.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 47:6
“Jeremiah, in the person of the Philistines afflicting themselves (Jer 47:5), apostrophizes the "sword of the Lord," entreating mercy (compare De 32:41; Eze 21:3-5, 9, 10). up thyself--Hebrew, "Gather thyself," that is, retire or return.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 47:7
“How can it be quiet - This is the answer of the Sword. I am the officer of God’s judgments, and he has given me a commission against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore; all the coast where the Philistines have their territories. The measure of their iniquities is full; and these God hath appointed this sword to ravage. The Philistines were ever the implacable enemies of the Jews, and the basest and worst of all idolaters.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.