2 This is what the Lord has said: See, waters are coming up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, overflowing the land and everything in it, the town and those who are living in it; and men will give a cry, and all the people of the land will be crying out in pain.
Egypt is a fair young cow; but a biting insect has come on her out of the north.
The loud breathing of the horses comes to our ears from Dan: at the sound of the outcry of his war-horses, all the land is shaking with fear; for they have come, and have made a meal of the land and everything in it; the town and the people living in it.
The daughter of Dibon has gone up to the high places, weeping: Moab is sounding her cry of sorrow over Nebo, and over Medeba: everywhere the hair of the head and of the face is cut off. In their streets they are covering themselves with haircloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their public places, there is crying and bitter weeping. Heshbon is crying out, and Elealeh; their voice is sounding even to Jahaz: for this cause the heart of Moab is shaking; his soul is shaking with fear. My heart is crying out for Moab; her people go in flight to Zoar, and to Eglath-shelishiyah: for they go up with weeping by the slope of Luhith; on the way to Horonaim they send up a cry of destruction.
For this cause the Lord is sending on them the waters of the River, deep and strong, even the king of Assyria and all his glory: and it will come up through all its streams, overflowing all its edges: And it will come on into Judah; rushing on and overflowing, till the waters are up to the neck; *** and his outstretched wings will be covering the land from side to side: for God is with us.
And he said to me, The waters which you saw, where the evil woman is seated, are peoples, and armies, and nations and languages.
And one of the seven angels who had the seven vessels came and said to me, Come here, so that you may see the judging of the evil woman who is seated on the great waters;
Come now, you men of wealth, give yourselves to weeping and crying because of the bitter troubles which are coming to you.
But if anyone says to you, This food has been used as an offering, do not take it, on account of him who said it, and on account of his sense of right and wrong:
And in that day, says the Lord, there will be the sound of a cry from the fish doorway, and an outcry from the new town, and a great thundering from the hills, and cries of grief from the people of the Hollow; Because of the downfall of all the people of Canaan: all those who were weighted down with silver have been cut off.
But like water overflowing he will take them away; he will put an end to those who come up against him, driving his haters into the dark.
For the Lord, the God of armies, is he at whose touch the land is turned to water, and everyone in it will be given up to sorrow; all of it will be overflowing like the River, and will go down again like the River of Egypt; It is he who makes his rooms in the heaven, basing his arch on the earth; whose voice goes out to the waters of the sea, and sends them flowing over the face of the earth; the Lord is his name.
<A Psalm. Of David.> The earth is the Lord's, with all its wealth; the world and all the people living in it.
How is it broken down! how is Moab's back turned in shame! so Moab will be a cause of sport and of fear to everyone round about him.
There is the sound of crying from Horonaim, wasting and great destruction; Moab is broken; her cry has gone out to Zoar. For by the slope of Luhith they will go up, weeping all the way; for on the way down to Horonaim the cry of destruction has come to their ears.
The word which the Lord said to Jeremiah the prophet, of how Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, would come and make war on the land of Egypt.
Let not the quick-footed go in flight, or the man of war get away; on the north, by the river Euphrates, they are slipping and falling. Who is this coming up like the Nile, whose waters are lifting their heads like the rivers? Egypt is coming up like the Nile, and his waters are lifting their heads like the rivers, and he says, I will go up, covering the earth; I will send destruction on the town and its people.
And I will make right decision the measuring-line, and righteousness the weight: and the ice-storm will take away the safe place of false words, and the secret place will be covered by the flowing waters.
For this cause I have said, Let your eyes be turned away from me in my bitter weeping; I will not be comforted for the wasting of the daughter of my people. For it is a day of trouble and of crushing down and of destruction from the Lord, the Lord of armies, in the valley of vision; ...
For the cry has gone round the limits of Moab; as far as to Eglaim and Beer-elim.
Send out a cry, O door! Make sounds of sorrow, O town! All your land has come to nothing, O Philistia; for there comes a smoke out of the north, and everyone keeps his place in the line.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Jeremiah 47
Commentary on Jeremiah 47 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 47
Jer 47:1-7. Prophecy against the Philistines.
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).
2. waters—(Isa 8:7). 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.
3. (Compare Jer 4:29).
fathers … not look back to … children—Each shall think only of his own safety, not even the fathers regarding their own children. So desperate shall be the calamity that men shall divest themselves of the natural affections.
for feebleness of hands—The hands, the principal instruments of action, shall have lost all power; their whole hope shall be in their feet.
4. every helper—The Philistines, being neighbors to the Phœnicians of Tyre and Sidon, would naturally make common cause with them in the case of invasion. These cities would have no helper left when the Philistines should be destroyed.
Caphtor—the Caphtorim and Philistines both came from Mizraim (Ge 10:13, 14). The Philistines are said to have been delivered by God from Caphtor (Am 9:7). 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. Some identify Caphtor with Cappadocia; Gesenius, with Crete (Eze 25:16, Cherethims); Kitto, Cyprus. Between Palestine and Idumea there was a city Caparorsa; and their close connection with Palestine on the one hand, and Egypt (Mizraim, Ge 10:13, 14) on the other hand, makes this locality the most likely.
5. Baldness … cut thyself—Palestine is represented as a female who has torn off her hair and cut her flesh, the heathenish (Le 19:28) token of mourning (Jer 48:37).
their valley—the long strip of low plain occupied by the Philistines along the Mediterranean, west of the mountains of Judea. 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."
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.
7. Jeremiah, from addressing the sword in the second person, turns to his hearers and speaks of it in the third person.
Lord … given it a charge—(Eze 14:17).
the sea-shore—the strip of land between the mountains and Mediterranean, held by the Philistines: "their valley" (see on Jer 47:5).
there hath he appointed it—(Mic 6:9). There hath He ordered it to rage.