Zep 2 | HCSB | STEP | Gather yourselves together ; gather together , undesirable nation ,

Zephaniah 2

A Call to Repentance

1 Gather yourselves together;
gather together, undesirable ^{▼▼Or shameless} nation,
2 before the decree ^b takes effect
and the day passes like chaff,
before the burning of the Lord’s anger overtakes you,
before the day of the Lord’s anger overtakes you.
3 Seek the Lord, ^c all you humble ^d of the earth,
who carry out what He commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you will be concealed ^e
on the day of the Lord’s anger.

Judgment against the Nations

4 For Gaza will be abandoned,
and Ashkelon will become a ruin.
Ashdod will be driven out at noon,
and Ekron will be uprooted. ^f
5 Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast,
nation of the Cherethites! ^{▼▼= Sea Peoples
,} ^h
The word of the Lord is against you,
Canaan, land of the Philistines:
I will destroy you until there is no one left.
6 The seacoast will become pasturelands
with caves for shepherds and folds for sheep.
7 The coastland will belong
to the remnant of the house of Judah;
they will find pasture there.
They will lie down in the evening
among the houses of Ashkelon,
for the Lord their God will return to them
and restore their fortunes.

8 I have heard the taunting of Moab
and the insults of the Ammonites, ⁱ
who have taunted My people
and threatened their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live –
this is the declaration of the Lord of ^{▼▼Hosts/hosts: Military forces consisting of God's angels, sometimes including the sun, moon, and stars, and occasionally, Israel}Hosts
,
the God of Israel –

Moab will be like Sodom
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah ^k –
a place overgrown with weeds,
a salt pit, and a perpetual wasteland.
The remnant of My people will plunder them;
the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.
10 This is what they get for their pride,
because they have taunted and acted arrogantly ^l
against the people of the Lord of Hosts.
11 The Lord will be terrifying to them
when He starves all the gods of the earth.
Then all the distant coastlands of the nations
will bow in worship to Him,
each in its own place.

12 You ^{▼▼Cush/ Cushite: The lands of the Nile in southern Egypt, including Nubia and Northern Sudan; the people who lived in that region}Cushites will also be slain by My sword. ⁿ

13 He will also stretch out His hand against the north
and destroy Assyria;
He will make Nineveh a desolate ruin, ^o
dry as the desert.
14 Herds will lie down in the middle of it,
every kind of wild animal. ^{▼▼Lit every wild animal of a nation}
Both the desert owl ^{▼▼Or the pelican} and the screech owl ^{▼▼Or the hedgehog}
will roost in the capitals of its pillars.
Their calls will sound ^{▼▼Lit sing} from the window,
but devastation ^{▼▼LXX, Vg read ravens} will be on the threshold,
for He will expose the cedar work. ^{▼▼Hb obscure}
15 This is the self-assured ^v city
that lives in security,
that thinks to herself:
I exist, and there is no one else.
What a desolation she has become,
a place for wild animals to lie down!
Everyone who passes by her
jeers ^{▼▼Or hisses} and shakes his fist.