Zephaniah 2
1 You people [of Judah] who ought to be ashamed, gather together [DOU].
Be ashamed within yourselves, be ashamed,
2 Yahweh is extremely angry with you, [so gather together now], before it is time for him to punish [MTY] you and blow you away like [SIM] [the wind blows away] chaff.
before you become as the drifting chaff, before the anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s wrath comes upon you.
3 All you people in Judah who are humble, worship Yahweh, and obey what he has commanded. Try to do what is right and to be humble. [If you do that], perhaps Yahweh will protect/spare you on the day when he punishes [MTY] people.
Seek the Lord all you meek of the earth, you who obey his law; Seek righteousness, seek meekness; perhaps you may be hidden in the day of the Lord’s wrath.
4 [When Yahweh punishes Philistia], Gaza and Ashkelon [cities] will be deserted/abandoned. Ashdod [city] will be attacked and the people expelled at noon [when people are resting]; the [people of Ekron city] will [also] be driven out.
For Gaza will be forsaken; Ashkelon a desolation; Ashdod – by noon will they rout her and Ekron be torn up!
5 And terrible things will happen to you people of Philistia who live near the sea, because Yahweh has decided [MTY] that he will punish [MTY] you, [also]. He will get rid of all of you; not one person will (survive/remain alive).
Woe to those who live by the sea coast, people of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines! I will destroy you so that you will be without inhabitants,
6 The land [of Philistia] near the sea will become a pasture, a place for shepherds and their sheep pens.
and you will become shepherds’ cots and folds for flocks.
7 The people of Judah who (survive/are still alive) will possess that land. At night they will sleep in the [deserted] houses in Ashkelon. Yahweh will take care of them; he will enable them to prosper again.
The sea coast will belong to the survivors of the house of Judah. They will pasture their flocks there. In the house of Ashkelon they will lie down at evening. The Lord their God will be with them and restore their fortunes.
8 The Commander of the armies of angels, the God to whom [we] Israeli people [belong], says [this]: “I have heard the people of Moab and Ammon when they insulted [DOU] my people, and when they said that they would conquer my people’s country.
I have heard the taunts of Moab, and the revilings of the Ammonites, how they have taunted my people, and spoken boastfully concerning their border.
9 So now, [as surely] as I live, [I will destroy] Moab and Ammon like [SIM] [I destroyed] Gomorrah [city]. Their land will be a place were there are nettles and salt pits; it will be ruined forever. My Israeli people who survive will take away all their valuable possessions and [also] occupy their land.”
Therefore as I live, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Moab will be like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a pile of nettles and saltpits, and a desolation, forever. The residue of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will inherit them.
10 The people of Moab and Ammon will get what they deserve for being proud, because they made fun of the people who belong to the Commander of the armies of angels.
This will they have for their pride, because they have taunted and spoken boastfully against the people of the Lord of hosts.
11 Yahweh will cause them to be terrified [when] he destroys all the gods of their countries. Then [even the people who live on] islands throughout the world will worship Yahweh, each in their own countries.
The Lord will terrify them; he will reduce all the gods of the earth; then all the peoples of the nations will worship him, each in their own land.
12 [Yahweh says that] he will also slaughter the people of Ethiopia.
You, also, Ethiopians, slain by his sword are you!
13 Yahweh will punish [IDM] and destroy Assyria, [that land] northeast of us. He will cause [its capital] Nineveh to become ruined and deserted, a place that will be as dry as the desert.
And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria; And he will make Nineveh a desolation, dry as the wilderness.
14 [Flocks of sheep and] herds [of cattle] and many kinds of wild animals will lie down there. Owls and crows will sit on the columns/pillars [of the destroyed buildings], and they will (hoot/cry out) through the windows. There will be rubble in the doorways, and the [valuable] cedar boards will be taken [from the ruined houses].
Herds will lie down in it, every beast of the earth, Desert owl and screech owl will lodge in its capitals. The owl will hoot in the window, the raven on the doorstep, all stripped bare of cedar.
15 [The people of] Nineveh were [previously] happy and proud, thinking that they were very safe. They were [always] saying, “Our city is the greatest city; there is no city as great as ours!” But now it will become a ruins, a place where wild animals make their dens. And everyone who passes by there will hiss [and scorn/ridicule that city], and shake their fists [to show that they detest that city very much].
This is the exultant city which sat secure. The city who said to herself, I am and there is none else! How has she become a desolation! A lair of beasts! Every passerby hisses at her, shakes their hand.
