⁵ Woe to ^(B)you inhabitants of the seacoast,
    you nation of ^(C)the Cherethites!
^(D)The word of the Lord is against you,
    ^(E)O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
    and I will destroy you ^(F)until no inhabitant is left.
^6 (G)And you, O seacoast, ^(H)shall be pastures,
    with meadows^[a] for shepherds
    and folds for flocks.
^7 (I)The seacoast shall become the possession
    of ^(J)the remnant of the house of Judah,
    ^(K)on which they shall graze,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
    they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God ^(L)will be mindful of them
    and ^(M)restore their fortunes.

⁸ “I have heard ^(N)the taunts of Moab
    and ^(O)the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
    and made boasts ^(P)against their territory.
⁹ Therefore, ^(Q)as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel,
“Moab shall become ^(R)like Sodom,
    and the Ammonites ^(S)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.”
¹⁰ This shall be their lot in return ^(T)for their pride,
    because they taunted and boasted
    against the people of the Lord of hosts.
¹¹ The Lord will be awesome against them;
    ^(U)for he will famish all the gods of the earth,
and ^(V)to him shall bow down,
    each in its place,
    all ^(W)the lands of the nations.

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

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

² “Thus says the Lord:
^(C)Behold, waters are rising ^(D)out of the north,
    ^(E)and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow ^(F)the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who dwell in it.
Men shall cry out,
    and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.
³ At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
    ^(G)at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
the fathers ^(H)look not back to their children,
    so feeble are their hands,
⁴ because of the day that is coming to destroy
    all ^(I)the Philistines,
to cut off from ^(J)Tyre and Sidon
    every helper that remains.
For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,
    ^(K)the remnant of the coastland of ^(L)Caphtor.
^5 (M)Baldness has come upon Gaza;
    ^(N)Ashkelon has perished.
O remnant of their valley,
    ^(O)how long will you gash yourselves?
^6 (P)Ah, sword of the Lord!
    How long till you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard;
    rest and be still!
⁷ How can it^[a] be quiet
    ^(Q)when the Lord has given it a charge?
Against ^(R)Ashkelon and against the seashore
    ^(S)he has appointed it.”