262 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
(Neh 13:23). In Jeremiah's pronouncements against the Philistines in 47:1-7,
only Ashkelon and Gaza are said to be awaiting their sad day of reckoning.
During the 1980s and 1990s, major excavations were carried out at Tel Miqne-
Ekron, directed by Seymour Gitin of the Albright Institute and Trude Dothan
of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem (Gitin 1990; 1995; 1997; "Ekron" in
ABD 2: 415-22; NEAEHL 3: 1051-59; P. J. King 1993: 20), and atAshkelon,
directed by Larry Stager and a team from Harvard (Stager 1991; 1996; ''.Ash-
kelon" in ABD 1: 487-90; NEAEHL 1: 103-12; P. J. King 1993: xxv, 23, 33-
34). Tell e~-Safi, currently thought to be ancient Gath, was excavated by F. J.
Bliss and R. A. Macalister for the British Palestine Exploration Fund in 1899
(NEAEHL 4: 1522-24); in the late 1990s, new excavations were begun at the
site by York University in Toronto and Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Is-
rael. Gaza, identified with Tell Kharubeh (==Tell <Azza) was partly excavated
by W. J. Phythian-Adams in 1922, but its modest Iron II finds were inconclu-
sive (NEAEHL 2: 464-67). Gaza has yet to be properly excavated, due to con-
tinuous occupation and unsettled conditions in the region.
the land of the Philistines. The LXX omits "land."
- Edom. The high plateau country east of the <Arabah Valley below the
Dead Sea, from the River Zered (Wadi el-I:Iasa) to the Gulf of Aqaba. In the
late seventh or early sixth century B.C., Edomites were threatening Judah's bor-
der in the eastern Negeb. On the history, geography, and archaeology of an-
cient Edom, see Note for 49:7. Jeremiah spoke a word against Edom in
9:25[Eng 9:26] but developed his judgment more fully in a number of oracles
in 49:7-22.
Moab. The movement in Transjordan is from south to north. Moab was the
high plateau country north of Edom, east of the Dead Sea. Its southern bound-
ary was the River Zered (Wadi el-I:Iasa), and for many years its northern bound-
ary was the River Amon (Wadi al-Mujib). From the eighth century on, it also
controlled the plateau area north of the Amon, as far as Heshbon. On the his-
tory, geography, and archaeology of ancient Moab, see Note for 48: 1. Jeremiah
spoke against Moab in 9:25[Eng 9:26], supplementing this with judgment ora-
cles in the whole of chap. 48.
the Ammonites. Hebrew bene 'ammon, lit., "sons of Ammon," which is the
usual designation for the Ammonites in the OT. Ammon was a small, tribal
Transjordanian kingdom made up of Rabbah, its capital, and the surrounding
towns, villages, and farmsteads. Its borders extended roughly from the Wadi
Hesban in the south to the Jabbok River (Wadi Zerqa) in the north. On Am-
monite geography and archaeology, see Note for 49: l; on Ammonite history in
the late seventh and early sixth centuries B.C., see Note for 49:2. Jeremiah
spoke against the Ammonites in 9:25[Eng 9:26] and in the oracles contained
in 49:1-6.
- all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon. Tyre and Sidon were the
southernmost coastal cities of Phoenicia (modern Lebanon), their modern
sites being just a short distance south of Beirut. There are no oracles against ei-
ther Tyre or Sidon in the Foreign Nation Collection, but their ties to Philistine
