⁵ Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid;
    Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;
    Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.
The king shall perish from Gaza;
    Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;
⁶ a mixed people^[a] shall dwell in Ashdod,
    and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.

⁵ Baldness has come upon Gaza;
    Ashkelon has perished.
O remnant of their valley,
    how long will you gash yourselves?

“For three transgressions of Gaza,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they carried into exile a whole people
    to deliver them up to Edom.
⁷ So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,
    and it shall devour her strongholds.
⁸ I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod,
    and him who holds the sceptre from Ashkelon;
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
    and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”
says the Lord God.