Jer 47:6 | NETfull | STEP | How long will you cry out, ‘Oh, sword of the Lord , how long will it be before you stop killing? Go back into your sheath! Stay there and rest!’

Jeremiah 47:6

6 How long will you cry out, ^{▼▼ The words “How long will you cry out” are not in the text but some such introduction seems necessary because the rest of the speech assumes a personal subject.} ‘Oh, sword of the Lord,
how long will it be before you stop killing? ^{▼▼ Heb “before you are quiet/at rest.”}
Go back into your sheath!
Stay there and rest!’ ^{▼▼ The passage is highly figurative. The sword of the Lord, which is itself a figure of the destructive agency of the enemy armies, is here addressed as a person and is encouraged in rhetorical questions (the questions are designed to dissuade) to “be quiet,” “be at rest,” “be silent,” all of which is designed to get the Lord to call off the destruction against the Philistines.}