Yahweh 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.
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh 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.
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Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
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Thus saith the LORD: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and they shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and them that dwell therein; and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.
Cross-references (29)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 47:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 8:7-8 now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks. It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through. It will reach even to the neck. The stretching out of its wings will fill the width of your land, Immanuel.
- Isaiah 15:2-5 They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off. In their streets, they clothe themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops, everyone wails, weeping abundantly. Heshbon cries out with Elealeh. Their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud. Their souls tremble within them. My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.
- Jeremiah 1:14 Then Yahweh said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.
- Jeremiah 8:16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan. The whole land trembles at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell therein.”
- Jeremiah 46:20 “Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; but destruction out of the north has come. It has come.
- Psalms 24:1 The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell in it.
- Psalms 50:12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
- Psalms 96:11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar, and its fullness!
- Psalms 98:7 Let the sea roar with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein.
- Isaiah 14:31 Howl, gate! Cry, city! You are melted away, Philistia, all of you; for smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.
- Isaiah 15:8 For the cry has gone around the borders of Moab, its wailing to Eglaim, and its wailing to Beer Elim.
- Isaiah 22:1 The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?
- Isaiah 22:4-5 Therefore I said, “Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don’t labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people. For it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, in the valley of vision, a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains.”
- Isaiah 28:17 I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.
- Isaiah 59:19 So they will fear Yahweh’s name from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which Yahweh’s breath drives.
- Jeremiah 46:6-8 “Don’t let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. “Who is this who rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers? Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers. He says, ‘I will rise up. I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.’
- Jeremiah 46:13 The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt.
- Jeremiah 48:3-5 The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction! Moab is destroyed. Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. For they will go up by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping. For at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.
- Jeremiah 48:39 “How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So will Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are around him.”
- Daniel 11:22 The overwhelming forces will be overwhelmed from before him, and will be broken. Yes, also the prince of the covenant.
- Amos 9:5-6 For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt. It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name.
- Nahum 1:8 But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
- Zephaniah 1:10-11 In that day, says Yahweh, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were loaded with silver are cut off.
- 1 Corinthians 10:26 for “the earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness.”
- 1 Corinthians 10:28 But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” don’t eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, with all its fullness.”
- James 5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
- Revelation 12:15-16 The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth.
- Revelation 17:1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters,
- Revelation 17:15 He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet, no doubt, wished to remind the Jews…
The Prophet, no doubt, wished to remind the Jews that it would only be a prelude when Gaza was plundered, and that a far more grievous punishment was impending over that ungodly nation, which had done so many wrongs to God’s people. For if Gaza had suffered only that loss, the Jews might have complained of their lot, as those ungodly men who had acted so wickedly and in so many ways provoked God’s vengeance, had lightly suffered. They might then have objected and said, “What can this mean? God has indeed lightly smitten Gaza; but we would thus willingly redeem our lives: as those who wish to avoid shipwreck cast forth their goods into the sea, and whatever precious thing they may have; so we, if life only be given us, are prepared to part with all our property.” The Jews then might have thus deplored their lot. Hence the Prophet says, that something more grievous awaited that city.
“When ye see Gaza plundered,” he says, “think not that this is the last judgment of God; for, behold, waters shall rise from the north, that is, the Chaldeans shall complete the work of executing God’s vengeance; the Egyptians shall only plunder the wealth of the city, which will be endurable; but at length the Chaldeans will come to exercise boundless cruelty, and they shall be like a flood, and shall overwhelm Gaza, so as utterly to destroy it.” We now, then, see what the Prophet meant: there is implied a comparison between the plunder effected by the Egyptians and the final ruin brought on it by the Chaldeans.
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The rising or ascending of waters is evidently a metaphorical expression. He adds that they would be an overflowing torrent, that is, the waters would be like an inundating river; and they will inundate the land. He speaks of the land of the Philistines, where this city was. They will inundate, he says, the land and its fullness Fullness is taken in Hebrew for opulence or wealth; trees, corn, and animals are called the fullness of the land; for when the land brings forth no corn and no fruits, when it breeds no animals, it is deemed naked and empty. As then God clothes the land with such ornaments, the land is said to be full, when it abounds in those productions with which God enriches it. he afterwards speaks of men, the city, he says; he speaks not now of the city Gaza, but of the whole country; then the singular number is to be taken here for the plural. At length he says, Cry shall men, and howl shall all the inhabitants of the land The number as to the verbs is here changed, but there is no ambiguity in the meaning. And by these words the Prophet intimates, that a most grievous punishment would be inflicted on the Philistines, so that they would not only cry for sorrow, but even howl. It follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He meaneth the army of the Chaldeans, Isa. 8:7,…
He meaneth the army of the Chaldeans, Isa. 8:7, 8.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 47:2 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise…
Jer 47:2 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
Ver. 2. Behold, waters rise up out of the north.] The Chaldean, as a mighty torrent, shall overflow the whole country, and bury all as it were in one universal grave of waters, as once at the deluge. So Isa 8:7. This seemeth to have been done somewhat before Egypt was destroyed, when Moab, Ammon, and Syria, and therein Palestine, drank of the same cup.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Calamities and afflictions are often in Scripture set out…
Calamities and afflictions are often in Scripture set out under the notion of waters; and as the miseries of Egypt were set out by the overflowings of their great river Nilus, so the calamities of the Philistines are expressed by the overflowings of the great river Euphrates; these miseries coming upon them by the Chaldeans, which were a northern people, their waters are said to
rise up out of the north. It is said to be an
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overflowing flood that should
overflow the land, because it was to be a sweeping judgment, which like a flood should carry all before it, which should produce amongst the inhabitants of Gaza a great howling and lamentation.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thus saith the Lord, behold, waters rise up out…
Thus saith the Lord, behold, waters rise up out of the north,.... 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;''
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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" (u); 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.
(u) "et plenitudinem ejus", Schmidt, &c.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. Waters rise up out of the north]…
Verse 2. Waters rise up out of the north] Waters is a common prophetic image for a multitude of people. The north here, as in other places of this prophecy, means Chaldea.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 47:2-3. Behold, waters rise out of the north…
Jer 47:2-3. Behold, waters rise out of the north — Waters sometimes signify multitudes of people and nations, Rev 17:15; sometimes great and threatening calamities, Psa 69:1, these waters mean both. By the north, in this prophecy, the country of the Chaldeans is intended, from whence it is here foretold an army should come and overflow the land like a deluge, spreading devastation and destruction everywhere. At the noise of the stamping, &c. — The word שׁעשׂת, here rendered stamping, occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Scriptures. The LXX. render it, ορμης, impetus, force, rushing along: the Syriac and Chaldee, by words that respectively denote a progressive motion. “But Grotius,” says Blaney, “seems to have expressed it most happily, who has rendered מקול שׁעשׂת, a quadrupedante sono: having in view, no doubt, that line of Virgil, Æn. 8:596.
Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.
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We may therefore render it, At the galloping sound, or, at the sound of the galloping,” of the hoofs of his strong horses — Hebrew, אביריז, of his mighty ones; namely, horses. At the rushing of his chariots, the rumbling of his wheels — Blaney unites these two particulars in one, and reads, “At the rattling of the multitude of his wheels as he drove along.” The fathers shall not look back to their children — To provide for their safety, or so much as to see what becomes of them; for feebleness of hands — Their bodily vigour being dissolved, or relaxed, through the impression made by fear on their minds, which shall be such as to incapacitate them from exerting their strength to any efficacious purpose.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Waters rise up - A metaphor for the assembling…
Waters rise up - A metaphor for the assembling of an army (compare the marginal references).
Out of the north - The Chaldaean army must cross the Euphrates at Carchemish.
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An overflowing flood - Or, “torrent.” To understand the metaphors of the Bible we must keep the natural phenomena of the country in mind. In Palestine rivers are torrents, dashing furiously along in the rainy seasons, and dry, or nearly so, in the summer.
All that is therein - The marginal rendering contrasts the wealth of Egypt, which forms its fullness, and the inhabitants.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain waters-- (Isa 8:7). The Chaldeans from the north are…
waters-- (Isa 8:7). The Chaldeans from the north are compared to the overwhelming waters of their own Euphrates. The smiting of Gaza was to be only the prelude of a greater disaster to the Philistines. Nebuzara-dan was left by Nebuchadnezzar, after he had taken Jerusalem, to subdue the rest of the adjoining cities and country.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Waters rise up — The comparison of a…
2. Waters rise up — The comparison of a hostile army to an inundating flood spreading devastation over the land is repeatedly used. See Jer_46:7-8; Isa_8:7, etc. This flood is said to come out of the north, because all those Eastern peoples enter Palestine, Philistia, and Egypt from the north.
All that is therein — The margin is better, all the fulness thereof, meaning not the people, but the fruits of the earth and the wealth of its inhabitants.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2–7. The Prophecy regarding Philistia
2–7. The Prophecy regarding Philistia
2. waters rise up] In Jer_46:8 the same figure was used for an army. Cp. Isa_8:7 (on which Co. thinks this v. to be based), where the Assyrian army is likened to the floods of the Euphrates.
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an overflowing stream] a river suddenly swelling up through the effect of the winter rains; a frequent occurrence in Palestine.
and the men … shall howl] Co. rejects this part of the v. both as over-passing the proper limits of the metre, and suggesting a universal judgement, which would be, according to him, a later conception.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Behold, waters rise up out of the north.—The…
(2) Behold, waters rise up out of the north.—The reference to the north indicates that the invasion which the prophet contemplates is that of Nebuchadnezzar, not of Pharaoh-necho. For the metaphor of the overflowing river see Jer_46:7; Isa_8:7. For “the land and all that is therein” read, as in the margin, “the land and the fulness thereof.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 2-4. Hostile bands advance from the north; horror…
Vers. 2-4. Hostile bands advance from the north; horror seizes the Philistines.
Waters rise up. The prophets think in figures, and no figure is so familiar to them (alas for the unstable condition of those times!) as that of an overflowing torrent for an invading army. (see on Jer_46:8, and add to the parallel passages Isa_28:18 Eze_26:19 Dan_11:10) Out of the north. To suppose that this refers to Pharaohnecho returning from Carchemish seems forced and unnatural. If Necho conquered Gaza at the period supposed, it would be on his way to Carchemish, and not on his return. Besides," the north" is the standing symbol for the home of the dreaded Assyrian and Babylonian foes. (see on Jer_1:14) Isaiah had uttered a very similar prediction when the Assyrian hosts were sweeping through Palestine. (Isa_14:31) An overflowing flood; rather, torrent. The same phrase occurs in Isa_30:28, where the "breath" of the angry God is described with this figurative expression. It is in autumn time that the torrents of Palestine become dangerous, and water courses, dry or almost dry in summer, (comp. Jer_15:18) become filled with a furiously rushing stream.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 47:2 A flood: This metaphor depicts the movement of…
47:2 A flood: This metaphor depicts the movement of the Babylonian armies into the coastal area, beginning in 609 BC and peaking in 605 BC (cp. 1:11-14).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.