Zephaniah 2

Judgment of Judah’s Enemies

¹Gather yourselves together! Now gather together,

²Before the birth of the decree,

before the fierce anger of Yahweh overtakes you;

³Seek Yahweh, all you afflicted of the land

seek righteousness;

Perhaps you will be concealed

⁴For Gaza will be abandoned,

As for Ashdod, at noon they will drive her away,

⁵Woe to you, inhabitants of the region of the sea,

The word of Yahweh is against you,

I will destroy you until there is no inhabitant.

⁶And you, O region of the sea, shall become

⁷And it shall become a region

and in the houses of Ashkelon

For Yahweh their God shall be mindful of them,

⁸I have heard the reproaches of Moab

with which they have taunted my nation

⁹“Therefore, as I live”—a declaration of Yahweh of hosts,

“Moab shall be as Sodom,

a place of weeds and salt pits

The remnant of my people shall plunder them,

¹⁰This shall be for them in place of their pride

¹¹Yahweh will be awesome against them,

and all the lands of the nations;

¹²You also, O Cushites,

¹³And he will stretch out his hand against the north,

and will make Nineveh a desolation,

¹⁴Herds shall lie down in her midst,

even the desert owl and the screech owl

A voice shall hoot in the window;

for the cedar is laid bare.

¹⁵This is the city of rejoicing

the one saying in her heart,

How she has become a desolation,

Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.