Zephaniah 2:4

⁵Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will writhe in agony; as will Ekron, for her expectation will be disappointed; and the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited. ⁶Foreigners will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. ⁷I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he also will be a remnant for our God; and he will be as a chieftain in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

⁶The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they carried away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom; ⁷but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces. ⁸I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord^[+] GOD.

¹The LORD’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza.

²The LORD says: “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, and will overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein. The men will cry, and all the inhabitants of the land will wail. ³At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don’t look back for their children because their hands are so feeble, ⁴because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; for the LORD will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor. ⁵Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing. You remnant of their valley, how long will you cut yourself? ⁶“‘You sword of the LORD, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself back into your scabbard; rest, and be still.’ ⁷“How can you be quiet, since the LORD has given you a command? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there he has appointed it.”

²⁰and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

⁴“Prepare war against her! Arise! Let’s go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

¹⁵“‘The Lord GOD says: “Because the Philistines have taken revenge, and have taken vengeance with contempt of soul to destroy with perpetual hostility,” ¹⁶therefore the Lord GOD says, “Behold, I will stretch out my hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. ¹⁷I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I lay my vengeance on them.”’”

⁸Their widows are increased more than the sand of the seas. I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday. I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly.

⁶nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday.