Zephaniah 2

¹ Gather together, gather yourselves,
O shameless nation,

² before the decree takes effect
— before 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.

³ Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
who carry out his justice.
Seek righteousness; seek humility.
Perhaps you will be sheltered
on the day of the LORD's anger.

⁴ For Gaza will be abandoned,
and Ashkelon will become a desolation.
Ashdod — they will drive her out at noon,
and Ekron will be uprooted.

⁵ Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast,
you nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the LORD is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines:
"I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left."

⁶ The seacoast will become pastures,
meadows for shepherds
and folds for flocks.

⁷ The seacoast will belong
to the remnant of the house of Judah;
on which they will graze.
In the houses of Ashkelon
they will lie down in the evening,
for the LORD their God will attend to them
and restore their fortunes.

⁸ "I have heard the taunts of Moab
and the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
and made boasts against their territory.

⁹ Therefore, as I live," declares the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel,
"Moab will become like Sodom,
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah —
a land of nettles and salt pits,
a wasteland forever.
The remnant of my people will plunder them,
and the survivors of my nation will inherit them."

¹⁰ This will be their lot in return for their pride,
because they taunted and boasted
against the people of the LORD of hosts.

¹¹ The LORD will be terrifying to them,
for he will starve all the gods of the earth.
Then all the coastlands of the nations
will bow down to him,
each in its own place.

¹² "You also, O Cushites,
will be slain by my sword."

¹³ And he will stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria,
and he will make Nineveh a desolation,
a dry waste like the desert.

¹⁴ Herds will lie down in her midst,
all kinds of beasts.
Both the owl and the hedgehog
will lodge in her capitals.
A voice will hoot in the window;
devastation will be on the threshold,
for he has stripped bare the cedar work.

¹⁵ This is the exultant city
that lived securely,
that said in her heart,
"I am, and there is no one else."
What a desolation she has become,
a lair for wild beasts!
Everyone who passes by her
hisses and shakes his fist.