Jeremiah 47

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

² The 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.

³ At 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,

⁴ because 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.

⁵ Baldness 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.”

Around Jeremiah 47

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Jeremiah as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

Before Jeremiah can speak, God has already spoken of him: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” That is how the book tells his calling, and the calling is heavy. He prophesied in Judah’s last decades, up to and beyond the destruction of Jerusalem. He calls the people to turn back to God, and he warns that the temple will not protect them. Kings, priests and other prophets oppose him. The book lets us hear his own anguished prayers, so that we see not only the message but the man who had to carry it.

In the middle of the warnings stands a promise. God says he will make “a new covenant”, and of his law he says, “I will write it in their heart” (31:31 to 34).

Background

Jeremiah’s ministry ran from about 627 to after 586 before Christ. His scribe Baruch wrote down his words. The book is not in time order, so a reader should expect to move back and forth across those years. The ancient Greek version is shorter than the Hebrew and arranged differently, and it shows that the book itself was handed down with care.

How Christians read it

The promise of a new covenant is taken up at the Last Supper and quoted in full in Hebrews 8. Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible. In its setting it is addressed to a whole people in exile and comes with the news that they will stay there for seventy years, which guards against reading it as a promise of quick relief.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 20 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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