Zephaniah 2:4-15 ▼

4 For Gaza (the strong) will be abandoned, and Ashkelon (the fire of infamy) left in ruins. Ashdod (powerful) will be driven out at noon, and Ekron (torn up by the roots) will be uprooted.

5 Woe to the dwellers of the seacoast, O nation of the Cherethites (executioners)! The word of the LORD {YHWH} is against you⁺, O Canaan (lowland), land of the Philistines (immigrants): “I will destroy you, and no one will be left.”

6 So the seacoast will become a land of pastures, with wells (caves) for shepherds and folds for sheep.

7 The coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah (praised); there they will find pasture. They will lie down in the evening among the houses of Ashkelon (the fire of infamy), for the LORD their God {YHWH Elohehem} will attend to them and restore their captives (their fortunes).

8 “I have heard the reproach of Moab (of his father) and the insults of the Ammonites (tribal), who have taunted My people and threatened their borders.

9 Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD {YHWH} of Hosts, the God {Elohe} of Israel (he wrestles with God), “surely Moab (of his father) will be like Sodom (burning) and the Ammonites (tribal) like Gomorrah (submersion)—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of My people will plunder them; the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”

10 This they shall have in return for their pride, for taunting and mocking the people of the LORD {YHWH} of Hosts.

11 The LORD {YHWH} will be terrifying to them when He starves all the gods of the earth. Then the nations of every shore will bow in worship to Him, each in its own place.

12 “You⁺ too, O Cushites (people from the upper Nile region), will be slain by My sword.”

13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria (a step); He will make Nineveh (abode of Ninus) a desolation, as dry as a desert.

14 Herds will lie down in her midst, creatures (nations) of every kind \beasts of every nation/. Both the desert owl and screech owl will roost atop her pillars. Their calls will sound from the window, but desolation will lie on the threshold, for He will expose the beams of cedar.

15 This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.