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Gather together and assemble yourselves, shameless nation,
        before the decision is made—the day vanishes like chaff[a]
            before the burning anger of the Lord comes against you,
            before the day of the Lord’s anger comes against you.
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land who practice his justice;
        seek righteousness;
        seek humility.
        Maybe you will be hidden on the day of the Lord’s anger.

Oracles against foreign nations

Gaza will certainly be abandoned;
        and Ashkelon destroyed.
Ashdod will be driven out at noon;
        Ekron will be uprooted.
Doom, inhabitants of the seacoast,
        nation of Cretans.
The Lord’s word is against you,
        Canaan, land of the Philistines.
I will exterminate you, leaving no inhabitant.
The seacoast will become pastureland,
        with wells for shepherds and pens for the flocks.
The coast will belong to the survivors from the house of Judah;
        they will pasture beside the sea;[b]
            in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening.
        The Lord their God will visit them and restore their possessions.

I have heard the taunting of Moab
        and the defamation of the Ammonites;
        they taunted my people
        and enlarged their borders.
Therefore, as I live—
    says the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel—
        Moab will become like Sodom
        and the Ammonites like Gomorrah:
        a plot of weeds, salt pits, and devastation forever.
The few remaining from my people will plunder them;
        the rest of my nation will possess them.
10 This will happen on account of their pride,
        because they taunted and boasted over the people of the Lord of heavenly forces.
11 The Lord will terrify them;
        he will make all the gods of the earth disappear.
            All the coastlands of the nations will bow down to the Lord,
                each one in its own place.

12 Moreover, you too, Cushites, will be pierced by my sword.
13 He will stretch out his hand against the north
        and will cause Assyria to perish.
Let him make Nineveh a desolation,
        a desolate place like the wilderness.
14 Flocks will lie down in its midst,
        every living thing of the nation.
Moreover, the owl and the porcupine will spend the night on its columns.
A bird’s call will resound from the window.
Desolation will be on the sill,
        for the cedar will be stripped bare.
15 This is the jubilant city,
        the one dwelling securely,
        the one saying in her heart,
            I, and no one else, will endure forever.
How she has become a desolation,
        a resting place for the wild animals.
All those who pass through her hiss and shake their fist.

Footnotes

  1. Zephaniah 2:2 Heb uncertain
  2. Zephaniah 2:7 Or they will pasture by them.

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