“See, waters are rising from the north [^Crepresenting the overwhelming force of the Babylonians].
    They will become like an overflowing ·stream [torrent]
and will cover the whole country ·like a flood [^Land its fullness],
    even the towns and the people living in them.
Everyone living in that country
    will cry for help;
    the people will ·cry painfully [wail].
³ They will hear the sound of the ·running horses [^Lhoofs of the chargers]
    and the noisy chariots
    and the rumbling chariot wheels.
·Parents [Fathers] will not ·help their children to safety [turn back for their children],
    because ·they will be too weak to help [^Ltheir hands will be weak].
⁴ The ·time [^Lday] has come
    to destroy all the Philistines.
It is time to ·destroy [^Lcut off] all who ·are left alive [survive]
    who could help the cities of Tyre and Sidon [^Cthe two most important Phoenician cities; the Philistines, Egypt’s allies, could no longer help them].
The Lord will soon destroy the Philistines,
    ·those left alive from the island of Crete [^Lthe remnant of the coastline of Caphtor].