Zephaniah 2:9-15

English Standard Version

⁹Therefore, ^(A)as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel,
“Moab shall become ^(B)like Sodom,
    and the Ammonites ^(C)like Gomorrah,
a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,
    and a waste forever.
The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
    and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
¹⁰This shall be their lot in return ^(D)for their pride,
    because they taunted and boasted
    against the people of the Lord of hosts.
¹¹The Lord will be awesome against them;
    ^(E)for he will famish all the gods of the earth,
and ^(F)to him shall bow down,
    each in its place,
    all ^(G)the lands of the nations.

¹²^(H)You also, O Cushites,
shall be slain by my sword.

¹³And he will stretch out his hand against the north
    ^(I)and destroy Assyria,
and he ^(J)will make Nineveh a desolation,
    a dry waste like the desert.
¹⁴^(K)Herds shall lie down in her midst,
    all kinds of beasts;^[a]
^(L)even the owl and the hedgehog^[b]
    shall lodge in her capitals;
a voice shall hoot in the window;
    devastation will be on the threshold;
    for ^(M)her cedar work will be laid bare.
¹⁵This is the exultant city
    ^(N)that lived securely,
that said in her heart,
    “I am, and there is no one else.”
What a desolation she has become,
    ^(O)a lair for wild beasts!
^(P)Everyone who passes by her
    hisses and ^(Q)shakes his fist.