Zephaniah 2

¹ ………………. nation without desire,

² before you are driven like chaff that is blown away in a day, before there descends on you the fierce anger of Yahweh (before there descends on you the day of the anger of Yahweh).

³ Seek Yahweh, all you, the humble of the earth, who obey his commands. Seek integrity, seek humility: you may perhaps find shelter on the day of the anger of Yahweh.

⁴ Yes, Gaza is going to be reduced to desert, Ashkelon to waste. Ashdod will be stormed in broad daylight, and Ekron rooted out.

⁵ Woe to the members of the Confederacy of the Sea, to the nation of the Cherethites! This is the word of Yahweh against you: I mean to bring you down, land of the Philistines, I am going to ruin you, empty you of inhabitants;

⁶ and you will be reduced to pasture land, to grazing grounds for the shepherds, to folds for the sheep.

⁷ It will be included in the property of the remnant of the House of Judah; they will lead flocks there to pasture; among the houses of Ashkelon they will rest at evening; for Yahweh their God is going to deal kindly with them and restore their fortunes.

⁸ I have heard the taunts of Moab and the insults of the sons of Ammon as they laughed at my people, and boasted of their own domains.

⁹ For this, as I live – it is Yahweh Sabaoth who speaks, the God of Israel – Moab shall become like Sodom and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah: a realm of nettles, a heap of salt, a desolation for ever. What is left of my people will plunder them, those of my nation who survive will take their heritage.

¹⁰ This will be the price of their pride, of their taunts, of their boasts against the people of Yahweh Sabaoth.

¹¹ Full of terror will Yahweh be for them. When he has utterly destroyed all the gods of the earth, the nations will prostrate themselves before him, each on its own soil, all the islands of the nations.

¹² And as for you, Ethiopians: They will be run through with my sword.

¹³ He is going to raise his hand against the north and bring Assyria down in ruins; he will make Nineveh a waste, dry as the desert.

¹⁴ In the middle of her the flocks will rest; all the beasts of the valley, even the pelican and the heron will roost round her cornices at night; the owl will hoot at the window and the raven croak on the doorstep. …………………..

¹⁵ Is this the joyful city, so confident on her throne, who said in her heart, ‘Here am I, with none to equal me’? What a ruin she is now, a lair for beasts! All those who pass by her whistle and shake their fists.