Jeremiah 47:4

47:4 For the time has come

to destroy all the Philistines.

The time has come to destroy all the help

that remains for Tyre 1  and Sidon. 2 

For I, the Lord, will 3  destroy the Philistines,

that remnant that came from the island of Crete. 4 

Jeremiah 49:13

49:13 For I solemnly swear,” 5  says the Lord, “that Bozrah 6  will become a pile of ruins. It will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example to be used in curses. 7  All the towns around it will lie in ruins forever.”

1 map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

2 map For location see Map1-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

3 tn Heb “For the Lord will.” The first person style has been adopted because the Lord is speaking (cf. v. 2).

4 sn All the help that remains for Tyre and Sidon and that remnant that came from the island of Crete appear to be two qualifying phrases that refer to the Philistines, the last with regard to their origin and the first with regard to the fact that they were allies that Tyre and Sidon depended on. “Crete” is literally “Caphtor” which is generally identified with the island of Crete. The Philistines had come from there (Amos 9:7) in the wave of migration from the Aegean Islands during the twelfth and eleventh century and had settled on the Philistine plain after having been repulsed from trying to enter Egypt.

5 tn Heb “I swear by myself.” See 22:5 and the study note there.

6 sn Bozrah appears to have been the chief city in Edom, its capital city (see its parallelism with Edom in Isa 34:6; 63:1; Jer 49:22). The reference to “its towns” (translated here “all the towns around it”) could then be a reference to all the towns in Edom. It was located about twenty-five miles southeast of the southern end of the Dead Sea apparently in the district of Teman (see the parallelism in Amos 1:12).

7 tn See the study note on 24:9 for the rendering of this term.