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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Zephaniah 2: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Tz'fanyah (Zep) 2
2
1Gather together, gather yourselves,
nation devoid of shame;
2before the decree takes effect,
and the day comes when one passes like chaff;
before Adonai’s fierce anger
comes on you,
before the day of Adonai’s anger
comes on you.
3Seek Adonai, all you humble in the land,
you who exercise his justice;
seek righteousness, seek humility —
you might be hidden
on the day of Adonai’s anger.
4For ‘Azah will be abandoned,
Ashkelon will be desolate,
they will evacuate Ashdod at noon,
and ‘Ekron will be uprooted.
5Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,
the nation of the K’reti!
The word of Adonai is against you,
Kena‘an, land of the P’lishtim:
“I will destroy you; no one will be left.”
6The seacoast will be reduced to pastures,
meadows for shepherds, pens for sheep;
7and the coast will belong to the remnant
of the house of Y’hudah.
They will pasture their flocks there
and in the evening lie down
in the houses of Ashkelon.
For Adonai their God will remember them
and restore their fortunes.
8“I have heard the insults of Mo’av
and the taunts of the people of ‘Amon,
how they reviled my people
and boasted of expanding their territory.
9Therefore, as I live,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot,
the God of Isra’el,
“Mo’av will become like S’dom
and the people of ‘Amon like ‘Amora,
a land covered with nettles and salt pits,
desolate forever.
The remnant of my people will plunder them,
the survivors in my nation will inherit them.”
10This is what they will earn for their pride,
for having reviled and boasted against
the people of Adonai-Tzva’ot.
11Adonai will be fearsome against them,
for he will make all the earth’s gods waste away.
Then all the coasts and islands of the nations
will worship him, each from its place.
12“You too, Ethiopians,
will be put to death by my sword.”
13He will stretch out his hand against the north;
he will destroy Ashur;
he will make Ninveh desolate,
as dry as the desert.
14Herds will lie down in it,
and all kinds of wild animals too —
jackdaws and owls will roost on her columns,
voices screeching in the windows,
desolation on the doorsteps,
for its cedarwork is stripped bare.
15This is the city, once so joyful,
whose people felt themselves secure,
who used to say to herself,
“I am [the greatest]! I have no rival.”
What a ruin she has become —
a place for wild animals to lie down!
Everyone passing by her
hisses and shakes his fist!
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