Zephaniah 2
2
A Call to Repentance
1Gather yourselves together;
gather together, undesirable#2:1 Or shameless nation,
2before the decree#Jb 23:14; Ps 2:7; 148:6 takes effect
and the day passes like chaff,
before the burning of the Lord’s anger#Nm 25:4; 32:14; Jr 4:8; 12:13; 25:37; 30:24; 51:45 overtakes you,
before the day of the Lord’s anger overtakes you.#Lm 2:22
3Seek the Lord,#1Ch 22:19; 2Ch 12:14; 14:4; 15:12–13; 16:12; Ps 34:10; Is 9:13; 51:1; Hs 10:12; Am 5:14; Zph 1:6; Zch 8:21–22 all you humble#Nm 12:3; Ps 25:9; 37:11; 76:9; Am 8:4 of the earth,
who carry out what he commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you will be concealed#Gn 4:14; Ex 3:6; Ps 17:8
on the day of the Lord’s anger.
Judgment against the Nations
4For Gaza will be abandoned,
and Ashkelon will become a ruin.
Ashdod will be driven out at noon,
and Ekron will be uprooted.#Jr 25:20; Am 1:6–8; Zch 9:5–7
5Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast,
nation of the Cherethites!#2:5 = Sea Peoples#Ezk 25:16
The word of the Lord is against you,#Is 37:22; Jr 16:10; 42:19; Am 3:1
Canaan, land of the Philistines:
I will destroy you until there is no one left.#Is 5:9; 6:11; Jr 4:7; 26:9; 33:10; 34:22; 44:22; 46:19; 48:9; Zph 3:6
6The seacoast will become pasturelands
with caves for shepherds and pens for sheep.
7The 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.#Ps 85:1; Jr 30:18; 48:47; Lm 2:14
8I have heard the taunting#Ps 42:10; 102:8; 119:42; Mt 27:44; Heb 10:33 of Moab
and the insults of the Ammonites,#Am 1:13
who have taunted my people
and threatened their territory.
9Therefore, as I live —
this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel —
Moab will be like Sodom#Is 1:9; 3:9; 13:19; Jr 23:14; Rm 9:29
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah:#Gn 19:24–25
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.
10This is what they get for their pride,
because they have taunted and acted arrogantly#Jr 48:42
against the people of the Lord of Armies.
11The Lord will be terrifying to them
when he starves all the gods of the earth.
Then all the distant coasts and islands of the nations
will bow in worship to him,
each in its own place.
12You Cushites will also be slain by my sword.#Is 18:1–7
13He will also stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria;
he will make Nineveh a desolate ruin,#Nah 2:8; 3:7
dry as the desert.
14Herds will lie down in the middle of it,
every kind of wild animal.#2:14 Lit every wild animal of a nation
Both eagle owls#2:14 Or the pelicans and herons#2:14 Or the hedgehogs
will roost in the capitals of its pillars.
Their calls will sound#2:14 Lit sing from the window,
but devastation#2:14 LXX, Vg read ravens will be on the threshold,
for he will expose the cedar work.#2:14 Hb obscure
15This is the jubilant#Is 13:3; 22:2; 23:7; 24:8; 32:13; Zph 3:11 city
that lives in security,
that says 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
scoffs#2:15 Or hisses and shakes his fist.
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Zephaniah 2
2
God Asks People to Change Their Lives
1Shameless people, change your lives 2before you become like a dry and dying flower. In the heat of day, a flower will wilt and die. You will be like that when the Lord shows his terrible anger. So change your lives before the Lord shows his anger against you! 3All you humble people, come to the Lord! Obey his laws. Learn to do good things. Learn to be humble. Maybe then you will be safe when the Lord shows his anger.
The Lord Will Punish Israel’s Neighbors
4No one will be left in Gaza. Ashkelon will be destroyed. By noon, the people will be forced to leave Ashdod. Ekron#2:4 Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron Philistine cities. In Hebrew, Zephaniah is making wordplays on the names of these cities. will be empty.#2:4 empty In Hebrew this word is like the word meaning “Philistines.” Also in verse 6. 5You Cretans#2:5 Cretans People from Crete. The Philistines came from that island. living by the sea, this message from the Lord is about you. Canaan, land of the Philistines, you will be destroyed—no one will live there! 6Your land by the sea will become empty fields for shepherds and their sheep. 7Then the land will belong to the survivors from Judah. The Lord their God will remember the people from Judah and restore their fortunes. Then they will let their sheep eat the grass in those fields. In the evenings they will lie down in the empty houses of Ashkelon.
8The Lord says, “I know what the people of Moab and Ammon did. They embarrassed my people. They took their land to make their own countries larger. 9So, as surely as I am alive, Moab and the people of Ammon will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah. I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, and I promise those countries will be destroyed completely forever. Their land will be overgrown with weeds. It will be like the land covered with salt by the Dead Sea. The survivors of my people will take that land and everything left in it.”
10This will happen to the people of Moab and Ammon because they were so proud and cruel and humiliated the people of the Lord All-Powerful. 11They will be afraid of the Lord, because he will destroy their gods. Then everyone in all the faraway lands will worship the Lord. 12People of Ethiopia, this even means you! The Lord’s sword will kill your people. 13Then the Lord will turn north and punish Assyria. He will destroy Nineveh—that city will be like an empty, dry desert. 14Only sheep and wild animals will live in those ruins. Owls and crows will sit on the columns that are left standing. Their calls will be heard coming through the windows. Crows will sit on the doorsteps. Black birds#2:14 Black birds Or “cedar beams.” will make their homes in those empty houses. 15Nineveh is so proud now. It is such a happy city. The people think they are safe. They think Nineveh is the greatest place in the world, but it will be destroyed! It will be an empty place where only wild animals go to rest. People who pass by will whistle and shake their heads when they see how badly the city was destroyed.
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