And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, х nªwot (H5116) kªrot (H3741)] - rather, dwellings (with) cisterns (i:e., water tanks dug in the earth) for shepherds. Instead of a thick population and tillage, the region shall become a pasturage for nomad shepherds' flocks. The Hebrew for dug cisterns, Ceroth [from kaaraat, to dig], seems a play on sounds, alluding to their name Cherethites (Zephaniah 2:5): their land shall become what their national name implies, a land of cisterns. Maurer translates, 'Feasts for shepherds' (flocks)' -
i.e., the Philistine sea coast, bereft of its inhabitants, shall be one wide pasturage [from keeraah (H3740), which means also, in 2 Kings 6:23, a feast, or viands]. The English version takes the word, in the sense 'cottages,' from the root 'to dig:' because the shepherds in the East often dwelt in subterranean cottages, to avoid the excessive heat of the sun. So Drusius and Bochart. If this be preferred, perhaps it will be better to translate, as Maurer, the first noun х nªwot (H5116)], 'pastures' and cottages (subterranean): or else, as Rosenmuller [taking kªrot (H3741), the Qal infinitive, from kaaraah (H3738), to dig, instead of a noun], to translate 'the dwellings of digging' - i:e., 'the dug (or subterraneous) dwellings.'