Zephaniah 2

Wycliffe Bible

2 Come ye together, be [ye] gathered, ye folk not worthy to be loved, (Come ye, be ye gathered together, ye nation not worthy to be loved,)

² before that (his) commanding bring forth as dust (the) passing day; before that wrath of strong vengeance of the Lord come (up)on you, before that the day of his indignation come [up]on you. (before that by his commanding the day pass away like the dust; before that the anger of the strong vengeance of the Lord come upon you, before that the day of his indignation come upon you.)

³ All mild, either patient, men of earth, seek ye the Lord, which have wrought the doom of him; seek ye the just, seek ye the mild, if any manner ye be hid in the day of strong vengeance of the Lord. (All meek, or humble, people of the earth, seek ye the Lord, yea, they who have obeyed his commands; seek ye to be just, or to be righteous, seek ye to be meek, or to be humble, so that perhaps ye can be hid on the day of the strong vengeance of the Lord.)

⁴ For Gaza shall be destroyed, and Ashkelon shall be into desert; they shall cast out Ashdod in midday, and Ekron shall be drawn out by the root. (For Gaza shall be destroyed, and Ashkelon shall be made into a desert, or shall be deserted; they shall throw down Ashdod at midday, and Ekron shall be drawn out by the roots.)

⁵ Woe to you that dwell in the little part of the sea, a folk of lost men. The word of the Lord on you, Canaan, the land of Philistines, and I shall destroy thee, so that a dweller be not; (Woe to you who live by the sea coast, ye nation of the Cherethites. Here is the word of the Lord about you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines; I shall destroy thee, so that there be no inhabitants left there;)

⁶ and the little part of the sea shall be rest of shepherds, and folds of sheep. (and the sea coast shall be a resting place for shepherds, and folds for sheep.)

⁷ And it shall be a little part of him, that shall be left of the house of Judah, there they shall be fed in the houses of Ashkelon; at eventide they shall rest, for the Lord God of them shall visit them, and shall turn away the captivity of them. (And the coast shall be for those who shall be left of the house of Judah; they shall pasture their sheep there, and they shall rest in the evening in the houses of Ashkelon; for the Lord their God shall return to them, and shall restore their prosperity.)

⁸ I heard the shame of Moab, and blasphemies of the sons of Ammon, which they said shamefully to my people, and they were magnified on the terms of them. (I heard the insults of Moab, and the taunts of the Ammonites, which they shamefully said to my people, as they encroached upon their land.)

⁹ Therefore I live, saith the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, for Moab shall be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah; dryness of thorns, and heaps of salt, and desert till into without end. The remnants of my people shall ravish them, the residues of my folk shall wield them. (And so as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah; yea, dryness of thorns, and heaps of salt, and a desert, or a wasteland, forevermore. The remnants of my people shall rob them, yea, those of my nation who remain, or who survive, shall rule over them.)

¹⁰ Soothly this thing shall come to them for their pride, for they blasphemed, and were magnified [up]on, (or lorded themselves over,) the people of the Lord of hosts.

¹¹ The Lord shall be horrible on them, and he shall make feeble all gods of earth; and men of their place shall worship him, all the isles of heathen men. (And so the Lord shall be terrible to them, or shall terrify them, and he shall make feeble, or shall bring down unto nothing, all the gods of the earth; and the people in the places there, shall worship him, yea, on all the islands of the heathen.)

¹² But and ye, Ethiopians, shall be slain by my sword. (And ye Ethiopians shall also be killed by my sword.)

¹³ And he shall stretch forth his hand on the north, and shall lose Assur; and he shall put the fair city Nineveh into wilderness, and into without way, and as desert. (And he shall stretch out his hand over the north, and shall destroy Assyria; and he shall make the beautiful city of Nineveh into a wilderness, and without a way, and like a desert.)

¹⁴ And flocks, and all the beasts of folks, shall lie, (or shall rest,) in the middle thereof; and onocrotalus, and urchin shall dwell in [the] thresholds thereof; voice of the singing in the window, and a crow in the lintel, for I shall make thine the strength thereof. (And flocks, and all the beasts of the nations, or of every kind, shall lie down, or shall rest, in its midst; and owls, and bitterns shall live on its thresholds; the sound of the singing, or of the chirping, at the windows, and of the crows cawing on the lintels, for I shall make all its structures thine.)

¹⁵ This is the glorious city dwelling in trust, which said in her heart, I am, and there is none other more without me. How is it made unto desert, a couch of beast; each man that shall pass by it, shall hiss, and shall move his hand. (This is the glorious city living in false trust, which said in her heart, I am, and there is no other besides me. How it shall be made into a desert, or into a wilderness, yea, a den for beasts! Everyone who shall pass by it, shall hiss, and shall wave their hands, or shall shake their fists.)