Tsephanyah (Zephaniah) 2
2
1Gather together, gather together, O nation without shame,
2before the law gives birth – the day shall pass on like chaff – before the burning wrath of יהוה comes upon you, before the day of wrath of יהוה comes upon you!
3Seek יהוה, all you meek ones of the earth, who have done His right-ruling. Seek righteousness, seek meekness, if so be that you are hidden in the day of wrath of יהוה.
4For Azzah is abandoned and Ashqelon laid waste, Ashdoḏ is driven out at noonday and Eqron is uprooted.
5Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Kerĕthites! The word of יהוה is against you, O Kena‛an, land of the Philistines, “And I shall destroy you, so that there is no inhabitant.”
6And the seacoast shall be pastures, shepherds’ meadows and enclosures for flocks.
7And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Yehuḏah. They shall feed their flocks on it, at evening they lie down in the houses of Ashqelon. For יהוה their Elohim shall visit them and turn back their captivity.
8“I have heard the reproach of Mo’aḇ, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, with which they have reproached My people, and exalted themselves against their borders.
9“Therefore, as I live,” declares יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “Mo’aḇ shall be like Seḏom, and the children of Ammon like Amorah – a possession for weeds and a pit of salt, and a waste forever, the remnant of My people plunder them, and the rest of My nation possess them.”
10This is what they get for their pride, because they have reproached and exalted themselves against the people of יהוה of hosts.
11יהוה shall be awesome to them, for He shall make all the mighty ones of the earth to shrivel, while all the coastlands of the nations bow down to Him, each one from his place.
12“You too, O Kushites, are to be slain by My sword.”
13And He shall stretch out His hand against the north, and destroy Ashshur, and make Ninewĕh a waste, as dry as a wilderness.
14And droves shall lie down in her midst, every beast of the nation, both pelican and bittern lodge in the tops of her columns, a voice singing at the window, ruin be at the threshold, for the cedar work is exposed.
15This is the exultant city that is dwelling in safety, that said in her heart, “I am it, and there is none but me.” How has she become a waste, a place for beasts to lie down! Everyone who passes by her whistles and shakes his fist.
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Tsephanyah (Zephaniah) 2: TS2009
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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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