Jeremiah 47
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A high resolution scan of the Aleppo Codex showing the Book of Jeremiah (the sixth book in Nevi'im).
Book	Book of Jeremiah
Hebrew Bible part	Nevi'im
Order in the Hebrew part	6
Category	Latter Prophets
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	24

Jeremiah 47 is the forty-seventh chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains prophecies attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. This chapter is part of a series of "oracles against foreign nations", consisting of chapters 46 to 51.^[1] In particular, chapters 46-49 focus on Judah's neighbors.^[2] This chapter contains the poetic oracles against the Philistines.^[3][4]

Text

The original text was written in Hebrew. This chapter is divided into 7 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008).^[5] Some fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, i.e., 2QJer (2Q13; 1st century CE^[6]), with extant verses 1–7.^[7][8]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (with a different chapter and verse numbering), made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G))}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G))}$^S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G))}$^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G))}$^Q; 6th century).^[9]

Parashot

The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.^[10] Jeremiah 47 is a part of the prophecies in Jeremiah 46-49 in the section of Prophecies against the nations (Jeremiah 46-51). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.

{P} 47:1-7 {P}

Verse numbering

The order of chapters and verses of the Book of Jeremiah in the English Bibles, Masoretic Text (Hebrew), and Vulgate (Latin), in some places differs from that in the Septuagint (LXX, the Greek Bible used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and others) according to Rahlfs or Brenton. The following table is taken with minor adjustments from Brenton's Septuagint, page 971.^[11]

The order of Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint/Scriptural Study (CATSS) based on Alfred Rahlfs' Septuaginta (1935) differs in some details from Joseph Ziegler's critical edition (1957) in Göttingen LXX. Swete's Introduction mostly agrees with Rahlfs' edition (=CATSS).^[11]

Verse 1

The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.^[12]

This oracle may be related to the sack of Ashkelon by Nebuchadnezzar in 604 BCE (Jeremiah 5:7; 36:9), although the heading refers to an Egyptian attack on Gaza.^[4]

Verse 5a

Baldness has come upon Gaza,

Ashkelon is cut off

With the remnant of their valley.^[13]

The New International Version explains more clearly: Gaza will shave her head in mourning.^[14] Biblical commentator A. W. Streane notes that it is an "unsuitable description" to refer to this coastal plain as a "valley" and he therefore prefers the wording of the Septuagint, "the remainder of the Anakim", in place of "the remnant of their valley".^[15] The Anakim were a race of giants said to have lived in the southern part of the land of Canaan.^[16]