Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they carried away captive the whole community, To deliver them up to Edom;
Because they carried away the whole captivity - Literally, “a complete captivity;” complete, but for evil; a captivity in which none were spared, none left behind; old or young, woman or child; but a whole population (whatever its extent) was swept away. Such an inroad of the Philistines is related in the time of Jehoram 2 Chronicles 21:16.