Jeremiah 47:7
in Jeremiah 47How can it rest when the LORD has commanded it? He has appointed it against Ashkelon and the shore of its coastland.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How canst thou be quiet, seeing Jehovah hath given thee a charge? Against Ashkelon, and against the sea-shore, there hath he appointed it.
KJV
How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it.
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This verse in Jeremiah 47
Commentary
5 notes on this verseHow 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.
This site's exposition
Baldness is come upon Gaza
on Jeremiah 47:5-7
Baldness and self-cutting were pagan mourning rites the law forbade to Israel (Leviticus 19:28, Deuteronomy 14:1), and the text records Gaza and Ashkelon practicing them without commanding or approving the practice itself. The closing address turns to the sword of the Lord directly, commanded to rest and be still, yet unable, because the charge against Ashkelon and the sea shore has been given by the Lord himself and there he has appointed it. The oracle ends by making Philistia's judgment a matter of direct appointment rather than impersonal chance or mere Babylonian ambition.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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.
How can it be quiet,....
Every bullet has its charge; you call them blind bullets, but they are directed by an all-seeing God. The war itself has its charge; he saith to it, Go, and it goes--Come, and it comes--Do this, and it does it; for he is commander-in-chief. [2.] When the sword is drawn we cannot expect it should be sheathed till it has fulfilled its charge.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
sword of the Lord Which the Holy One, Blessed be He, brings to the world.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵ֣יךְ | ʾeikh | how? | H349 → | 82 times |
| תִּשְׁקֹ֔טִי | tishkoti | will you be inactive | H8252 → | 41 times |
| וַֽיהוָ֖ה | vayahweh | and Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צִוָּה־ | tzivah- | he has commanded | H6680 → | 494 times |
| לָ֑הּ | lah | <to> <the> it | ||
| אֶֽל־ | ʾel- | against | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אַשְׁקְל֛וֹן | ʾashkelon | Ashkelon | H831 → | 12 times |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and against | H413 → | 5510 times |
| ח֥וֹף | chof | [the] coast of | H2348 → | |
| הַיָּ֖ם | haiyam | the sea | H3220 → | 396 times |
| שָׁ֥ם | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| יְעָדָֽהּ׃ ס | yeadah | he has appointed it | H3259 → | 29 times |
אֵ֣יךְhow?
ʾeikhH349 →82 times
תִּשְׁקֹ֔טִיwill you be inactive
tishkotiH8252 →41 times
וַֽיהוָ֖הand Yahweh
vayahwehH3068 →6520 times
צִוָּה־he has commanded
tzivah-H6680 →494 times
לָ֑הּ<to> <the> it
lah
אֶֽל־against
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אַשְׁקְל֛וֹןAshkelon
ʾashkelonH831 →12 times
וְאֶל־and against
veel-H413 →5510 times
ח֥וֹף[the] coast of
chofH2348 →
הַיָּ֖םthe sea
haiyamH3220 →396 times
שָׁ֥םthere
shamH8033 →834 times
יְעָדָֽהּ׃ סhe has appointed it
yeadahH3259 →29 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezekiel 14:17Or if I bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through it,’ so that I cut off from it both man and beast,
it leads to
- Leviticus 26:25
And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into…
- Ezekiel 21:3–4
and tell her that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am against you, and I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.
- Ezekiel 5:12
A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every…
- Zephaniah 1:3
“I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the idols with their wicked worshipers. I will cut off mankind…
- Ezekiel 25:13
therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman…
- Leviticus 26:25
Through
Isaiah 10:6I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the…
it leads to
- Isaiah 9:17
Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite…
- Isaiah 9:17
Through
Micah 6:9The voice of the LORD calls out to the city (and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name): “Heed the rod and the One who ordained it.
it leads to
- Revelation 3:19
Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
- Hosea 14:9
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in…
- Revelation 3:19
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.