Zephaniah 2

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

Gather your selues, euen gather you, O nation not worthie to be loued,

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 the decree come foorth, and ye be as chaffe that passeth in a day, and before the fierce wrath of the Lord come vpon you, and before the day of the Lords anger come vpon 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?

Seeke yee the Lord all the meeke of the earth, which haue wrought his iudgement: seeke righteousnesse, seeke lowlinesse, if so bee that ye may be hid in the day of the Lords wrath.

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

For Azzah shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon desolate: they shall driue out Ashdod at the noone day, and Ekron shalbe rooted vp.

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.

Wo vnto the inhabitants of the sea coast. the nation of the Cherethims, the worde of the Lord is against you: O Canaan, the lande of the Philistims, I will euen destroye thee without an inhabitant.

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

And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cotages for shepheardes and sheepefoldes.

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 that coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Iudah, to feede thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lodge toward night: for the Lord their God shall visite them, and turne away their captiuitie.

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 haue heard the reproch of Moab, and the rebukes of the children of Ammon, whereby they vpbraided my people, and magnified themselues against their borders.

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 liue, saith the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall bee as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorah, euen the breeding of nettels and salt pittes, and a perpetuall desolation: the residue of my folke shall spoyle them, and the remnant of my people shall possesse them.

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

This shall they haue for their pride, because they haue reproched and magnified themselues against the Lord of hostes people.

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 will be terrible vnto them: for he wil consume all the gods of the earth, and euery man shall worship him from his place, euen all the yles of the heathen.

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

Ye Morians also shalbe slaine by my sword with them.

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 wil stretch out his hand against the North, and destroy Asshur, and will make Nineueh desolate, and waste like a wildernesse.

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 flockes shall lie in the middes of her, and all the beastes of the nations, and the pelicane, and the owle shall abide in the vpper postes of it: the voyce of birdes shall sing in the windowes, and desolations shalbe vpon the postes: for the cedars are vncouered.

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.

This is the reioycing citie that dwelt carelesse, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none besides me: how is she made waste, and the lodging of the beastes! euery one that passeth by her, shall hisse and wagge his hand.