Jeremiah 47:6

6 You cry out, "Sword of the Lord! How long will you go on slashing? Go back to your scabbard, stay there and rest!'

Jeremiah 47:6 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 47:6

O thou sword of the Lord
For though it was the sword of the Chaldeans, yet being appointed and sent by the Lord, and having a commission from him, and being ordered and directed in his providence to do his will, it is called his sword: how long [will it be] ere thou be quiet?
and cease from destroying men; wilt thou not cease till thou hast no more to destroy? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still;
and make no more havoc among the people: these are either the words of the Philistines, entreating a stop might be put to the ravages of the sword, and that the war might cease, and the desolations of it; or rather of the prophet, commiserating their state as a man, though they had been the avowed enemies of his people; to which the following words of him are an answer, either to the Philistines, showing why their request could not be granted, or as correcting himself.

Jeremiah 47:6 In-Context

4 The time has come to destroy Philistia, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon all the help that remains. I, the Lord, will destroy the Philistines, all who came from the shores of Crete.

5 Great sorrow has come to the people of Gaza, and Ashkelon's people are silent. How long will the rest of Philistia mourn?

6 You cry out, "Sword of the Lord! How long will you go on slashing? Go back to your scabbard, stay there and rest!'

7 But how can it rest, when I have given it work to do? I have commanded it to attack Ashkelon and the people who live on the coast."