Judgment on the Nations

¹Gather together, yes, gather together,[#2Ch 20:4; Joel 1:14]

O shameless nation,

²before the decree takes effect,

before the day passes like chaff,

before the fierce 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 land,[#Am 5:14–15]

who carry out His judgment.

Seek righteousness, seek humility.

Perhaps you will be hidden

on the day of the Lord ’s anger.

⁴For Gaza will be forsaken,

and Ashkelon a desolation;

Ashdod will be driven out at noon,

and Ekron will be uprooted.

⁵Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,

the nation of Kerethites!

The word of the Lord is against you,

O Canaan, land of the Philistines:

I will destroy you,

so that there will be no inhabitant.

⁶The seacoast will be pastures,

with meadows for shepherds and folds for flocks.

⁷The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah,

on which they will feed.

In the houses of Ashkelon

they will lie down at evening.

For the Lord their God will visit them

and restore their fortunes.

⁸I have heard these taunts of Moab,[#Am 2:1–3]

and the revilings of the Ammonites,

by which they have reproached My people,

and made boasts against their territory.

⁹Therefore, as I live,

says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel,

surely Moab will be like Sodom,

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—

a land of weeds and salt pits,

and a perpetual desolation.

The remnant of My people will plunder them,

and the survivors of My nation will possess them.

¹⁰This will they have for their pride,[#Isa 16:6]

because they taunted and boasted against

the people of the Lord of Hosts.

¹¹The Lord will be dreadful to them,

for He will weaken all the gods of the earth;

men will worship Him, each from his place,

all the lands of the nations.

¹²You also, O Cushites,[#Isa 18; 20:4–5]

will be slain by My sword.

¹³And He will stretch out His hand against the north

and destroy Assyria;

and He will make Nineveh a desolation,

and dry like the desert.

¹⁴Herds will lie down in her midst,

beasts of every kind;

the cormorant and the bittern

will lodge on her pillars.

Their voice will sing in the windows;

desolation will be on the threshold;

for He will lay bare the cedar work.

¹⁵This is the rejoicing city

that dwelt securely,

that said in her heart,

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

How has she become a desolation,

a place for beasts to lie down!

Everyone who passes by her will hiss

and shake his fist.