Zephaniah 2

Revised Standard Version

⁵ Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast,
    you nation of the Cher′ethites!
The word of the Lord is against you,
    O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
    and I will destroy you till no inhabitant is left.
⁶ And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures,
    meadows for shepherds
    and folds for flocks.
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 Ash′kelon
    they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God will be mindful of them
    and restore their fortunes.

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.
⁹ Therefore, as I live,” says the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel,
“Moab shall become like Sodom,
    and the Ammonites like Gomor′rah,
a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,
    and a waste for ever.
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 for their pride,
    because they scoffed and boasted
    against the people of the Lord of hosts.
¹¹ The Lord will be terrible against them;
    yea, he will famish all the gods of the earth,
and to him shall bow down,
    each in its place,
    all the lands of the nations.

¹² You also, O Ethiopians,
    shall be slain by my sword.

¹³ And he will stretch out his hand against the north,
    and destroy Assyria;
and he will make Nin′eveh a desolation,
    a dry waste like the desert.
¹⁴ Herds shall lie down in the midst of her,
    all the beasts of the field;^[b]
the vulture^[c] and the hedgehog
    shall lodge in her capitals;
the owl^[d] shall hoot in the window,
    the raven^[e] croak on the threshold;
    for her cedar work will be laid bare.
¹⁵ This is the exultant city
    that dwelt secure,
that said to herself,
    “I am and there is none else.”
What a desolation she has become,
    a lair for wild beasts!
Every one who passes by her
    hisses and shakes his fist.