Zephaniah 2

1 Collect your thoughts, aye collect them, —O nation, depressed!

Be you gathered and closely joined together, O unchastened nation;

2 Ere yet the decree, have given birth, like chaff, the day, have vanished, —ere yet shall come upon you, the glow of the anger of Yahweh, ere yet shall come upon you, the day of the anger of Yahweh.

before you become as the flower that passes away, before the anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the wrath of the Lord come upon you.

3 Seek Yahweh—all ye lowly of the land, who have wrought, what he appointed, —seek righteousness, seek humility, peradventure, ye shall be concealed, in the day of the anger of Yahweh?

Seek you the Lord, all you meek of the earth; do judgement, and seek justice, and answer accordingly; that you may be hid in the day of the wrath of the Lord.

4 For, Gaza, forsaken, shall be, and, Ashkelon, a desolation, —Ashdod! at high noon, shall they drive her forth, and, Ekron, be uprooted:

For Gaza shall be utterly spoiled, and Ascalon shall be destroyed; and Azotus shall be cast forth at noon-day, and Accaron shall be rooted up.

5 Alas! for the inhabitants of the line of the sea, the nation of Kerethim, —The word of Yahweh, is against you, O Canaan of the land of the Philistines, therefore will I destroy thee, to the last inhabitant.

Woe to them that dwell on the border of the sea, neighbours of the Cretans! the word of the Lord is against you, O Chanaan, land of the Philistines, and I will destroy you out of [your] dwelling-place.

6 So shall the line of the sea become a meadow, the wells of shepherds, and the folds of flocks;

And Crete shall be a pasture of flocks, and a fold of sheep.

7 And the line shall belong to the remnant of the house of Judah, Thereon, shall they feed their flocks, —In the houses of Ashkelon, shall they, at eventide, lie down, for Yahweh their God will visit them, and bring their captives back.

And the sea cost shall be for the remnant of the house of Juda; they shall pasture upon them in the houses of Ascalon; they shall rest in the evening because of the children of Juda; for the Lord their God has visited them, and he will turn away their captivity.

8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the sons of Ammon, —who have reproached my people, and have magnified themselves up to their bounds.

I have heard the revilings of Moab, and the insults of the children of Ammon, wherewith they have reviled my people, and magnified themselves against my coasts.

9 Wherefore, as I live, declareth Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Surely, Moab, like Sodom, shall become, and, the sons of Ammon, like Gomorrah, a possession for the thorn, and a pit of salt, Yea a desolation, unto times age-abiding: The remnant of my people, shall make of them a prey, and, the residue of my nation, shall inherit them.

Therefore, [as] I live, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall be as Sodoma, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrha; and Damascus [shall be] left as a heap of the threshing floor, and desolate for ever: and the remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the remnant of my nations shall inherit them.

10 This, shall they have, instead of their pride, —because they reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Yahweh of hosts.

This is their punishment in return for their haughtiness, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the Lord Almighty.

11 Terrible will Yahweh be against them, for he hath caused to waste away all the gods of the earth, that men may bow down to him, every one from his place, all the coastlands of the nations:

The Lord shall appear against them, and shall utterly destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth; and they shall worship him every one from his place, [even] all the islands of the nations.

12 Even ye Ethiopians, the slain of my sword were they!

You Ethiopians also are the slain of my sword.

13 And may he stretch out his hand against the North, and destroy Assyria, —and may he make of Nineveh a desolation, dry as the desert!

And he shall stretch forth his hand against the north and destroy the Assyrian, and make Nineve a dry wilderness, [even] as a desert.

14 So shall lie down in her midst—flocks, each living thing of a nation, both pelican and bittern, in her capitals, shall roost, —a voice, shall resound in the window, the bustard, on the sill, for he hath destroyed, hath laid bare.

And flocks, and all the wild beasts of the land, and chameleons shall feed in the midst thereof: and hedgehogs shall lodge in the ceilings thereof; and wild beasts shall cry in the breaches thereof, and ravens in her porches, whereas her loftiness was [as] as cedar.

15 This, is the city exultant, that sat secure, that said in her heart, I, [am]! and no one besides! How hath she become a desolation! a lair of beasts, every one passing, by her doth hiss, shaketh his hand.