Zephaniah 2

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

The prophet calls the nation to gather and seek the Lord, righteousness, and humility before His burning anger takes effect. The Lord announces judgment against the Philistines, declaring that Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Ekron will be ruined and their coast turned into pastures for the remnant of Judah. Moab and Ammon are similarly condemned to become permanent wastelands resembling Sodom and Gomorrah because of their taunts against God's people. Furthermore, the Cushites are slated for the sword, and the Lord declares the destruction of Assyria, leaving Nineveh as a desolate home for herds and desert birds. Finally, distant nations will bow in worship to the Lord, while the once-secure city of Nineveh becomes a ruined resting place for beasts.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹Gather yourselves, gather together, O shameful nation, ²before the decree takes effect and 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. ³Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger. ⁴For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon left in ruins. Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted. ⁵Woe to the dwellers of the seacoast, O nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy you, and no one will be left.” ⁶So the seacoast will become a land of pastures, with wells for shepherds and folds for sheep. ⁷The coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; there they will find pasture. They will lie down in the evening among the houses of Ashkelon, for the LORD their God will attend to them and restore their captives. ⁸“I have heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who have taunted My people and threatened their borders. ⁹Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah— 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.” ¹⁰This they shall have in return for their pride, for taunting and mocking the people of the LORD of Hosts. ¹¹The LORD 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, will be slain by My sword.” ¹³And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert. ¹⁴Herds will lie down in her midst, creatures of every kind. 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. ¹⁵This 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.

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.