“See how the waters are rising in the north;
they will become an overflowing torrent.
They will overflow the land and everything in it,
the towns and those who live in them.
The people will cry out;
all who dwell in the land will wail
3at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds,
at the noise of enemy chariots
and the rumble of their wheels.
Parents will not turn to help their children;
their hands will hang limp.
4For the day has come
to destroy all the Philistines
and to remove all survivors
who could help Tyre and Sidon.
TheLord is about to destroy the Philistines,
the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.a
5Gaza will shave her head in mourning;
Ashkelon will be silenced.
You remnant on the plain,
how long will you cut yourselves?
6“ ‘Alas, sword of theLord,
how long till you rest?
Return to your sheath;
cease and be still.’
7But how can it rest
when theLord has commanded it,
when he has ordered it
to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”
