Chapter 29

¹ Thus saith the Lord against the Philistines;

² Behold, waters come up from the north, and shall become a sweeping torrent, and it shall sweep away the land, and its fulness; the city, and them that dwell in it: and men shall cry and all that dwell in the land shall howl, ³ at the sound of his rushing, at the sound of his hoofs, and at the rattling of his chariots, at the noise of his wheels: the fathers turned not to their children because of the weakness of their hands, ⁴ in the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines: and I will utterly destroy Tyre and Sidon and all the rest of their allies: for the Lord will destroy the remaining inhabitants of the islands. ⁵ Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ascalon is cast away, and the remnant of the Enakim.

⁶ How long wilt thou smite, O sword of the Lord? how long will it be ere thou art quiet? return into thy sheath, rest, and ¹be removed.

⁷ How shall it be quiet, whereas the Lord has given it a commission against Ascalon, and against the regions on the sea-coast, to awake against the remaining ²countries!

⁷ Concerning Idumea, thus saith the Lord; There is no longer wisdom in Thæman, counsel has perished from the wise ones, their wisdom is gone, ⁸ their place has been deceived. Dig deep for a dwelling, ye that inhabit Dædam, for he has wrought grievously: I brought trouble upon him in the time at which I visited him. ⁹ For grape-gatherers are come, who shall not leave thee a remnant; as thieves by night, they shall lay their hand upon thy possessions.

¹⁰ For I have stripped Esau, I have uncovered their secret places; they shall have no power to hide themselves, they have perished each by the hand of his brother, my neighbour, and it is impossible ¹¹ for thy fatherless one to be left to live, but I shall live, and the widows trust in me.

¹² For thus saith the Lord; They who were not appointed to drink the cup have drunk it; and thou shalt by no means be cleared:^{3 13} for by myself I have sworn, saith the Lord, that thou shalt be in the midst of her an impassable land, and a reproach, and a curse; and all her cities shall be desert for ever.

¹⁴ I have heard a report from the lord, and he has sent messengers to the nations, saying,Assemble yourselves, and come against her; rise ye up to war. ¹⁵ I have made thee small among the nations, utterly contemptible among men. ¹⁶ Thine ⁴insolence has risen up against thee, the fierceness of thine heart has burst the holes of the rocks, it has seized upon the strength of a lofty hill; for as an eagle he set his nest on high: thence will I bring thee down.

¹⁷ And Idumea shall be a desert: every one that passes by shall hiss at it. ¹⁸ As Sodom was overthrown and Gomorrha and

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they that sojourned in her, saith the Lord Almighty, no man shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man inhabit there. ¹⁹ Behold, he shall come up as a lion out of the midst of Jordan to the place of ⁵Ætham: for I will speedily drive them from it, and do ye set the young men against her: for who is like me? and who will withstand me? and who is this shepherd, who shall confront me?

²⁰ Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he has framed against Idumea; and his device, which he has devised against the inhabitants of Thæman: surely the least of the sheep shall be swept off; surely their dwelling shall be made desolate for them. ²¹ For at the sound of their fall the earth was scared, and the cry of the sea was not heard. ²² Behold, he shall look upon her as an eagle, and spread forth his wings over her strongholds; and the heart of the mighty men of Idumea shall be in that day as the heart of a woman in her pangs.