Zephaniah
2
- Gather together, gather together, O shameful
nation,
- before the appointed time arrives and that
day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you,
before the day of the LORD'S wrath comes upon you.
- Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you
will be sheltered on the day of the LORD'S anger.
- Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left
in ruins. At midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted.
- Woe to you who live by the sea, O Kerethite
people; the word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines.
"I will destroy you, and none will be left."
- The land by the sea, where the Kerethites
dwell, will be a place for shepherds and sheep pens.
- It will belong to the remnant of the house
of Judah; there they will find pasture. In the evening they will lie down
in the houses of Ashkelon. The LORD their God will care for them; he will
restore their fortunes.
- "I have heard the insults of Moab and
the taunts of the Ammonites, who insulted my people and made threats against
their land.
- Therefore, as surely as I live," declares
the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, "surely Moab will become like Sodom,
the Ammonites like Gomorrah -- a place of weeds and salt pits, a wasteland
forever. The remnant of my people will plunder them; the survivors of my nation
will inherit their land."
- This is what they will get in return for
their pride, for insulting and mocking the people of the LORD Almighty.
- The LORD will be awesome to them when he
destroys all the gods of the land. The nations on every shore will worship
him, every one in its own land.
- "You too, O Cushites, will be slain
by my sword."
- He will stretch out his hand against the
north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the
desert.
- Flocks and herds will lie down there, creatures
of every kind. The desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns.
Their calls will echo through the windows, rubble will be in the doorways,
the beams of cedar will be exposed.
- This is the carefree city that lived in
safety. She said to herself, "I am, and there is none besides me."
What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts! All who pass by her scoff
and shake their fists.
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