Jeremiah 47:5

5 1Baldness has come upon Gaza; 2Ashkelon has perished. O remnant of their valley, 3how long will you gash yourselves?

Jeremiah 47:5 Meaning and Commentary

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. Some understand this of shaving or tearing off the hair for grief, and mourning because of their calamities; which agrees with the latter clause of the verse: Ashkelon is cut off [with] the remnant of their valley;
this was one of the live cities of the Philistines; it lay north of Gaza. Herodotus F24 calls Ashkelon a city of Syria, in which was the temple of Urania Venus, destroyed by the Scythians; said to be built by Lydus Ascalus, and called so after his name F25. Of this city was Herod the king, and therefore called an Ashkelonite; it was now destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, but afterwards rebuilt and inhabited; and with it were destroyed the remainder of the cities, towns, and villages, in the valley, adjoining to that and Gaza; or Ashkelon and Gaza, now destroyed, were all that remained of the cities of the valley, and shared the same fate with them. The Targum is,
``the remnant of their strength;''
so Kimchi, who interprets it of the multitude of their wealth and power; how long wilt thou cut thyself?
their faces, arms, and other parts of their body, mourning and lamenting their sad condition; the words of the prophet signifying hereby the dreadfulness of it, and its long continuance.
FOOTNOTES:

F24 Clio, sive l. 1. c. 105.
F25 Vid. Bochart. Phaleg l. 2. c. 12. p. 88.

Jeremiah 47:5 In-Context

3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels, the fathers look not back to their children, so feeble are their hands,
4 because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains. For the LORD is destroying the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
5 Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon has perished. O remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourselves?
6 Ah, sword of the LORD! How long till you are quiet? Put yourself into your scabbard; rest and be still!
7 How can it be quiet when the LORD has given it a charge? Against Ashkelon and against the seashore he has appointed it."

Cross References 3

  • 1. [Jeremiah 48:37; Isaiah 3:24]
  • 2. Jeremiah 25:20; [Judges 1:18]
  • 3. [Jeremiah 48:37]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.