Zephaniah 2

Judgments on Judah’s Enemies

¹Gather yourselves together, yes, join together,

You nation without shame,

²Before the decree takes effect—[#2:2 Lit gives birth]

The day passes like chaff—

Before the burning anger of the Lord comes upon you,

Before the day of the Lord ’s anger comes upon you.

³Seek the Lord ,

All you humble of the earth

Who have practiced His ordinances;

Seek righteousness, seek humility.

Perhaps you will remain hidden

On the day of the Lord ’s anger.

⁴¶For Gaza will be abandoned,

And Ashkelon will become a desolation;

The inhabitants of Ashdod will be driven out at noon,

And Ekron will be uprooted.

⁵Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,

The nation of the Cherethites!

The word of the Lord is against you,

Canaan, land of the Philistines;

And I will eliminate you

So that there will be no inhabitant.

⁶So the seacoast will become grazing places,

With pastures for shepherds and folds for flocks.

⁷And the coast will be

For the remnant of the house of Judah,

They will drive sheep to pasture on it.

In the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down at evening;

For the Lord their God will care for them

And restore their fortunes.

⁸¶“I have heard the taunting of Moab

And the abusive speech of the sons of Ammon,

With which they have taunted My people

And boasted against their territory.

⁹“Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of armies,

The God of Israel,

“Moab will assuredly be like Sodom,

And the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah—

Ground overgrown with weeds and full of salt mines,

And a permanent desolation.

The remnant of My people will plunder them,

And the remainder of My nation will inherit them.”

¹⁰This they will have in return for their arrogance, because they have taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of armies.

¹¹The Lord will be terrifying to them, for He will starve all the gods of the earth; and all the coastlands of the nations will bow down to Him, everyone from his own place.[#2:11 Lit allow to dwindle]

¹²¶“You also, Ethiopians, will be slain by My sword.”

¹³And He will stretch out His hand against the north

And eliminate Assyria,

And He will make Nineveh a desolation,

Parched like the wilderness.

¹⁴Flocks will lie down in her midst,

All animals that range in herds;

Both the pelican and the hedgehog

Will spend their nights in the tops of her pillars;

Birds will sing in the window,

Devastation will be on the threshold;

For He has uncovered the cedar work.

¹⁵This is the presumptuous city

That dwells securely,

Who says in her heart,

“I am, and there is no one besides me.”

How she has become a desolation,

A resting place for animals!

Everyone who passes by her will hiss

And wave his hand in contempt.