Zephaniah 2

1Come together and hold assembly,

O shameless nation,

2before you are driven away

like the drifting chaff,a

before there comes upon you

the fierce anger of the Lord,

before there comes upon you

the day of the wrath of the Lord.

3Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,

who do his commands;

seek righteousness, seek humility;

perhaps you may be hidden

on the day of the wrath of the Lord.

4For Gaza shall be deserted,

and Ash'kelon shall become a desolation;

Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon,

and Ekron shall be uprooted.

5Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast,

you nation of the Cher'ethites!

The word of the Lord is against you,

O Canaan, land of the Philistines;

and I will destroy you till no inhabitant is left.

6And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures,

meadows for shepherds

and folds for flocks.

7The seacoast shall become the possession

of the remnant of the house of Judah,

on which they shall pasture,

and in the houses of Ash'kelon

they shall lie down at evening.

For the Lord their God will be mindful of 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.

9Therefore, as I live," says the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel,

"Moab shall become like Sodom,

and the Ammonites like Gomor'rah,

a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,

and a waste for ever.

The remnant of my people shall plunder them,

and the survivors of my nation shall possess them."

10This shall be their lot in return for their pride,

because they scoffed and boasted

against the people of the Lord of hosts.

11The Lord will be terrible against them;

yea, he will famish all the gods of the earth,

and to him shall bow down,

each in its place,

all the lands of the nations.

12You also, O Ethiopians,

shall be slain by my sword.

13And he will stretch out his hand against the north,

and destroy Assyria;

and he will make Nin'eveh a desolation,

a dry waste like the desert.

14Herds shall lie down in the midst of her,

all the beasts of the field;b

the vulturec and the hedgehog

shall lodge in her capitals;

the owld shall hoot in the window,

the ravene croak on the threshold;

for her cedar work will be laid bare.

15This is the exultant city

that dwelt secure,

that said to herself,

"I am and there is none else."

What a desolation she has become,

a lair for wild beasts!

Every one who passes by her

hisses and shakes his fist.