Zephaniah 2
Good News Translation
A Plea for Repentance
2 Shameless nation, come to your senses 2 before you are driven away like chaff blown by the wind, before the burning anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day when he shows his fury. 3 Turn to the Lord, all you humble people of the land, who obey his commands. Do what is right, and humble yourselves before the Lord. Perhaps you will escape punishment on the day when the Lord shows his anger.
The Doom of the Nations around Israel
4 (A)No one will be left in the city of Gaza. Ashkelon will be deserted. The people of Ashdod will be driven out in half a day,[a] and the people of Ekron will be driven from their city. 5 You Philistines are doomed, you people who live along the coast. The Lord has passed sentence on you. He will destroy you, and not one of you will be left. 6 Your land by the sea will become open fields with shepherd's huts and sheep pens. 7 The people of Judah who survive will occupy your land. They will pasture their flocks there and sleep in the houses of Ashkelon. The Lord their God will be with them and make them prosper again.
8 (B)The Lord Almighty says, “I have heard the people of Moab and Ammon insulting and taunting my people, and boasting that they would seize their land. 9 (C)As surely as I am the living Lord, the God of Israel, I swear that Moab and Ammon are going to be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah. They will become a place of salt pits and everlasting ruin, overgrown with weeds. Those of my people who survive will plunder them and take their land.”
10 That is how the people of Moab and Ammon will be punished for their pride and arrogance and for insulting the people of the Lord Almighty. 11 The Lord will terrify them. He will reduce the gods of the earth to nothing, and then every nation will worship him, each in its own land.
12 (D)The Lord will also put the people of Ethiopia[b] to death.
13 (E)The Lord will use his power to destroy Assyria. He will make the city of Nineveh a deserted ruin, a waterless desert. 14 It will be a place where flocks, herds, and animals of every kind will lie down. Owls will live among its ruins and hoot from the windows. Crows[c] will caw on the doorsteps. The cedar wood of her buildings will be stripped away. 15 That is what will happen to the city that is so proud of its own power and thinks it is safe. Its people think that their city is the greatest in the world. What a desolate place it will become, a place where wild animals will rest! Everyone who passes by will shrink back in horror.
Footnotes
- Zephaniah 2:4 in half a day; or by a surprise attack at noontime.
- Zephaniah 2:12 Hebrew Cush: Cush is the ancient name of the extensive territory south of the First Cataract of the Nile River. This region was called Ethiopia in Graeco-Roman times, and included within its borders most of modern Sudan and some of present-day Ethiopia (Abyssinia).
- Zephaniah 2:14 Some ancient translations Crows; Hebrew Desolation.
Zephaniah 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Judgment on Israel’s Enemies
2 Gather together, gather,
O shameless nation,(A)
2 before you are driven away[a]
like the drifting chaff,[b]
before there comes upon you
the fierce anger of the Lord,
before there comes upon you
the day of the Lord’s wrath.(B)
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land
who do his commands;
seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the Lord’s wrath.(C)
4 For Gaza shall be deserted,
and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;
Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon,
and Ekron shall be uprooted.(D)
5 Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast,
you nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the Lord is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines,
and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left.(E)
6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures,
meadows for shepherds,
and folds for flocks.(F)
7 The seacoast shall become the possession
of the remnant of the house of Judah,
on which they shall pasture,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God will be mindful of them
and restore their fortunes.(G)
8 I have heard the taunts of Moab
and the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
and made boasts against their territory.(H)
9 Therefore, as I live, says the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel,
Moab shall become like Sodom
and the Ammonites 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.(I)
10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride,
because they scoffed and boasted
against the people of the Lord of hosts.(J)
11 The Lord will be terrible against them;
he will shrivel all the gods of the earth,
and to him shall bow down
each in its place,
all the coasts and islands of the nations.(K)
12 You also, O Cushites,
shall be killed by my sword.(L)
13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria,
and he will make Nineveh a desolation,
a dry waste like the desert.(M)
14 Herds shall lie down in it,
every wild animal of the earth;[c]
the desert owl[d] and the screech owl[e]
shall lodge on its capitals;
the owl[f] shall hoot at the window,
the raven[g] croak on the threshold,
for its cedar work will be laid bare.(N)
15 Is this the exultant city
that lived secure,
that said to itself,
“I am, and there is no one else”?
What a desolation it has become,
a lair for wild animals!
Everyone who passes by it
hisses and shakes the fist.(O)
Zephaniah 2
Complete Jewish Bible
2 Gather together, gather yourselves,
nation devoid of shame;
2 before the decree takes effect,
and the day comes when one passes like chaff;
before Adonai’s fierce anger
comes on you,
before the day of Adonai’s anger
comes on you.
3 Seek Adonai, all you humble in the land,
you who exercise his justice;
seek righteousness, seek humility —
you might be hidden
on the day of Adonai’s anger.
4 For ‘Azah will be abandoned,
Ashkelon will be desolate,
they will evacuate Ashdod at noon,
and ‘Ekron will be uprooted.
5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,
the nation of the K’reti!
The word of Adonai is against you,
Kena‘an, land of the P’lishtim:
“I will destroy you; no one will be left.”
6 The seacoast will be reduced to pastures,
meadows for shepherds, pens for sheep;
7 and the coast will belong to the remnant
of the house of Y’hudah.
They will pasture their flocks there
and in the evening lie down
in the houses of Ashkelon.
For Adonai their God will remember them
and restore their fortunes.
8 “I have heard the insults of Mo’av
and the taunts of the people of ‘Amon,
how they reviled my people
and boasted of expanding their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot,
the God of Isra’el,
“Mo’av will become like S’dom
and the people of ‘Amon like ‘Amora,
a land covered with nettles and salt pits,
desolate forever.
The remnant of my people will plunder them,
the survivors in my nation will inherit them.”
10 This is what they will earn for their pride,
for having reviled and boasted against
the people of Adonai-Tzva’ot.
11 Adonai will be fearsome against them,
for he will make all the earth’s gods waste away.
Then all the coasts and islands of the nations
will worship him, each from its place.
12 “You too, Ethiopians,
will be put to death by my sword.”
13 He will stretch out his hand against the north;
he will destroy Ashur;
he will make Ninveh desolate,
as dry as the desert.
14 Herds will lie down in it,
and all kinds of wild animals too —
jackdaws and owls will roost on her columns,
voices screeching in the windows,
desolation on the doorsteps,
for its cedarwork is stripped bare.
15 This is the city, once so joyful,
whose people felt themselves secure,
who used to say to herself,
“I am [the greatest]! I have no rival.”
What a ruin she has become —
a place for wild animals to lie down!
Everyone passing by her
hisses and shakes his fist!
Zephaniah 2
The Message
Seek God
2 1-2 So get yourselves together. Shape up!
You’re a nation without a clue about what it wants.
Do it before you’re blown away
like leaves in a windstorm,
Before God’s Judgment-anger
sweeps down on you,
Before God’s Judgment Day wrath
descends with full force.
* * *
3 Seek God, all you quietly disciplined people
who live by God’s justice.
Seek God’s right ways. Seek a quiet and disciplined life.
Perhaps you’ll be hidden on the Day of God’s anger.
All Earth-Made Gods Will Blow Away
4-5 Gaza is scheduled for demolition,
Ashdod will be cleaned out by high noon,
Ekron pulled out by the roots.
Doom to the seaside people,
the seafaring people from Crete!
The Word of God is bad news for you
who settled Canaan, the Philistine country:
“You’re slated for destruction—
no survivors!”
* * *
6-7 The lands of the seafarers
will become pastureland,
A country for shepherds and sheep.
What’s left of the family of Judah will get it.
Day after day they’ll pasture by the sea,
and go home in the evening to Ashkelon to sleep.
Their very own God will look out for them.
He’ll make things as good as before.
* * *
8-12 “I’ve heard the crude taunts of Moab,
the mockeries flung by Ammon,
The cruel talk they’ve used to put down my people,
their self-important strutting along Israel’s borders.
Therefore, as sure as I am the living God,” says
God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
Israel’s personal God,
“Moab will become a ruin like Sodom,
Ammon a ghost town like Gomorrah,
One a field of rocks, the other a sterile salt flat,
a moonscape forever.
What’s left of my people will finish them off,
will pick them clean and take over.
This is what they get for their bloated pride,
their taunts and mockeries of the people
of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
God will be seen as truly terrible—a Holy Terror.
All earth-made gods will shrivel up and blow away;
And everyone, wherever they are, far or near,
will fall to the ground and worship him.
Also you Ethiopians,
you, too, will die—I’ll see to it.”
* * *
13-15 Then God will reach into the north
and destroy Assyria.
He will waste Nineveh,
leave her dry and treeless as a desert.
The ghost town of a city,
the haunt of wild animals,
Nineveh will be home to raccoons and coyotes—
they’ll bed down in its ruins.
Owls will hoot in the windows, ravens will croak in the doorways—
all that fancy woodwork now a perch for birds.
Can this be the famous Fun City
that had it made,
That boasted, “I’m the Number-One City!
I’m King of the Mountain!”
So why is the place deserted,
a lair for wild animals?
Passersby hardly give it a look;
they dismiss it with a gesture.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson