Jeremiah 47:2

2 `Thus said Jehovah: Lo, waters are coming up from the north, And have been for an overflowing stream, And they overflow the land and its fulness, The city, and the inhabitants in it, And men have cried out, And howled hath every inhabitant of the land.

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 That which hath been the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh smiteth Gaza:
2 `Thus said Jehovah: Lo, waters are coming up from the north, And have been for an overflowing stream, And they overflow the land and its fulness, The city, and the inhabitants in it, And men have cried out, And howled hath every inhabitant of the land.
3 From the sound of the stamping of the hoofs of his mighty ones, From the rushing of his chariot, the noise of his wheels, Fathers have not turned unto sons, From feebleness of hands,
4 Because of the day that hath come to spoil all the Philistines, To cut off to Tyre and to Zidon every helping remnant. For Jehovah is spoiling the Philistines, The remnant of the isle of Caphtor.
5 Come hath baldness unto Gaza, Cut off hath been Ashkelon, O remnant of their valley, Till when dost thou cut thyself?
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.