Zephaniah 2
Christian Standard Bible
A Call to Repentance
2 Gather yourselves together;
gather together, undesirable[a] nation,
2 before the decree(A) takes effect
and the day passes like chaff,
before the burning of the Lord’s anger(B) overtakes you,
before the day of the Lord’s anger overtakes you.(C)
3 Seek the Lord,(D) all you humble(E) of the earth,
who carry out what he commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you will be concealed(F)
on the day of the Lord’s anger.
Judgment against the Nations
4 For Gaza will be abandoned,
and Ashkelon will become a ruin.
Ashdod will be driven out at noon,
and Ekron will be uprooted.(G)
5 Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast,
nation of the Cherethites
The word of the Lord is against you,(I)
Canaan, land of the Philistines:
I will destroy you until there is no one left.(J)
6 The seacoast will become pasturelands
with caves for shepherds and pens for sheep.
7 The coastland will belong
to the remnant of the house of Judah;
they will find pasture there.
They will lie down in the evening
among the houses of Ashkelon,
for the Lord their God will return to them
and restore their fortunes.(K)
8 I have heard the taunting(L) of Moab
and the insults of the Ammonites,(M)
who have taunted my people
and threatened their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live—
this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel—
Moab will be like Sodom(N)
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah:(O)
a place overgrown with weeds,
a salt pit, and a perpetual wasteland.
The remnant of my people will plunder them;
the remainder of my nation will dispossess them.
10 This is what they get for their pride,
because they have taunted and acted arrogantly(P)
against the people of the Lord of Armies.
11 The Lord will be terrifying to them
when he starves all the gods of the earth.
Then all the distant coasts and islands of the nations
will bow in worship to him,
each in its own place.
12 You Cushites will also be slain by my sword.(Q)
13 He will also stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria;
he will make Nineveh a desolate ruin,(R)
dry as the desert.
14 Herds will lie down in the middle of it,
every kind of wild animal.[c]
Both eagle owls[d] and herons[e]
will roost in the capitals of its pillars.
Their calls will sound[f] from the window,
but devastation[g] will be on the threshold,
for he will expose the cedar work.[h]
15 This is the jubilant(S) city
that lives in security,
that says to herself:
I exist, and there is no one else.
What a desolation she has become,
a place for wild animals to lie down!
Everyone who passes by her
scoffs[i] and shakes his fist.
Tzefanyah 2
Orthodox Jewish Bible
2 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O shameful nation;
2 Before the decree brings forth, before the day passes like the chaff, before the charon af Hashem comes upon you, before the Yom Af Hashem (Day of Hashem’s Anger) comes upon you;
3 Seek ye Hashem, all ye anvei ha’aretz (humble of the land), which have wrought His mishpat; seek tzedek, seek anavah (meekness, humility); it may be ye shall be hid in the Yom Af Hashem.
4 For Azah (Gaza) shall be abandoned, and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod in broad day, and Ekron shall be uprooted.
5 Hoy (Woe) unto the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Keretim (Cretans)! The Devar Hashem is against you, O Kena’an, eretz of the Pelishtim (Philistines). I will even destroy thee, that there no inhabitant remains.
6 And the seacoast shall be dwellings and meadows for ro’im (shepherds), and pens for tzon.
7 And the coast shall be for the she’erit Bais Yehudah; they shall feed thereupon; in the batim (houses) of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the erev; for Hashem Eloheichem shall visit them, and restore their fortunes.
8 I have heard the reproach of Moav, and the revilings of the Bnei Ammon, whereby they have reproached My nation, and magnified themselves against their territory.
9 Therefore as I live, saith Hashem Tzva’os, Elohei Yisroel, Surely Moav shall be as Sodom, and the Bnei Ammon as Amora (Gomorrah), a place of weeds and salt pits, and desolation ad olam; the She’erit Ami shall plunder them, and the remnant of My nation shall possess them.
10 This shall they have in return for their ga’on (pride), because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the Am Hashem Tzva’os.
11 Hashem will be terrible unto them; for He will reduce to nothing all the elohei ha’aretz (g-ds of the land); and men shall worship Hashem, everyone from his place, even all the coasts and islands of the Goyim.
12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by My cherev.
13 And Hashem will stretch out His hand against the tzafon (north), and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like a midbar.
14 And herds shall lie down in the midst of it, all the beasts of the Goyim; both the desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns; their voice shall hoot in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; the beams of cedar will be exposed.
15 This is HaIr HaAlizah (the rejoicing city) that dwelt carelessly, that said in her lev, I am, and there is none beside me; how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and shake his fist.
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International