Zephaniah 2 Common English Bible

2 Gather together and assemble yourselves, shameless nation,
²        before the decision is made—the day vanishes like chaff^[a]—
            before the burning anger of the Lord comes against you,
            before the day of the Lord’s anger comes against you.
³Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land who practice his justice;
        seek righteousness;
        seek humility.
        Maybe you will be hidden on the day of the Lord’s anger.

Oracles against foreign nations

⁴Gaza will certainly be abandoned;
        and Ashkelon destroyed.
Ashdod will be driven out at noon;
        Ekron will be uprooted.
⁵Doom, inhabitants of the seacoast,
        nation of Cretans.
The Lord’s word is against you,
        Canaan, land of the Philistines.
I will exterminate you, leaving no inhabitant.
⁶The seacoast will become pastureland,
        with wells for shepherds and pens for the flocks.
⁷The coast will belong to the survivors from the house of Judah;
        they will pasture beside the sea;^[b]
            in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening.
        The Lord their God will visit them and restore their possessions.

⁸I have heard the taunting of Moab
        and the defamation of the Ammonites;
        they taunted my people
        and enlarged their borders.
⁹Therefore, as I live—
    says the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel—
        Moab will become like Sodom
        and the Ammonites like Gomorrah:
        a plot of weeds, salt pits, and devastation forever.
The few remaining from my people will plunder them;
        the rest of my nation will possess them.
¹⁰This will happen on account of their pride,
        because they taunted and boasted over the people of the Lord of heavenly forces.
¹¹The Lord will terrify them;
        he will make all the gods of the earth disappear.
            All the coastlands of the nations will bow down to the Lord,
                each one in its own place.

¹²Moreover, you too, Cushites, will be pierced by my sword.
¹³He will stretch out his hand against the north
        and will cause Assyria to perish.
Let him make Nineveh a desolation,
        a desolate place like the wilderness.
¹⁴Flocks will lie down in its midst,
        every living thing of the nation.
Moreover, the owl and the porcupine will spend the night on its columns.
A bird’s call will resound from the window.
Desolation will be on the sill,
        for the cedar will be stripped bare.
¹⁵This is the jubilant city,
        the one dwelling securely,
        the one saying in her heart,
            I, and no one else, will endure forever.
How she has become a desolation,
        a resting place for the wild animals.
All those who pass through her hiss and shake their fist.