Jeremiah 47:2

2 "Thus says the LORD: 1Behold, waters are rising 2out of the north, 3and shall become an overflowing torrent; they shall overflow 4the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Men shall cry out, and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.

Jeremiah 47:2 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 47:2

Thus saith the Lord, behold, waters rise up out of the north,
&c.] Meaning an army of men, which should come in great numbers, and with great force and rapidity, like an overflowing flood. So the Targum,

``behold, people shall come from the north;''
that is, from Chaldea, which lay north of Palestine: and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all
that is therein;
or, "the fulness of it" F21; the land of the Philistines, and carry off the men and cattle, and all the riches thereof; the city, and them that dwell therein;
not any particular or single city, as Gaza; but the several cities of Palestine, and the inhabitants of them: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl;
not being able to do anything else; not to defend themselves, their families, and property; and seeing nothing but ruin and destruction before their eyes.
FOOTNOTES:

F21 (hawlmw) "et plenitudinem ejus", Schmidt

Jeremiah 47:2 In-Context

1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.
2 "Thus says the LORD: Behold, waters are rising out of the north, and shall become an overflowing torrent; they shall overflow the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Men shall cry out, and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.
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?

Cross References 4

  • 1. [Jeremiah 46:7, 8; Isaiah 8:7]
  • 2. See Jeremiah 1:13
  • 3. [Jeremiah 46:7, 8; Isaiah 8:7]
  • 4. [Jeremiah 8:16]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.