Zephaniah 2:4-7
Expanded Bible
Philistia Will Be Punished
4 ·No one will be left in the city of Gaza [L Gaza will be abandoned; C Gaza sounds like Hebrew for “abandoned”; all four of these were cities in Philistia],
and the city of Ashkelon will be ·destroyed [desolated; a heap of ruins].
Ashdod will be empty by noon,
and the people of Ekron will be ·chased away [L uprooted; C Ekron sounds like Hebrew for “uprooted”].
5 ·How terrible it will be for [L Woe to] you who live by the ·Mediterranean Sea [L sea],
you ·Philistines [L nation of Cerethites; C either another name for the Philistines or a neighboring people group; the name suggests they came from the island of Crete; 2 Sam. 8:18; Ezek. 25:16]!
The word of the Lord is against you,
Canaan, land of the Philistines.
“I will destroy you
so that no ·one [inhabitant] will be left.”
6 The land by the ·Mediterranean Sea, in which you live [L sea],
will become pastures, ·fields [or shelters; or having wells] for shepherds, and pens for ·sheep [flocks].
7 It will ·belong to [L be for] the ·descendants of Judah who are left alive [L remnant of the house of Judah].
There they will ·let their sheep eat grass [graze; find pasture].
At night they will ·sleep [lay down]
in the houses of Ashkelon.
The Lord their God will ·pay attention to [care for] them
and will ·make their life good again [restore their fortunes; or return their exiles].
Zephaniah 2:4-7
Amplified Bible
4
For [this is the fate of the Philistines:] Gaza will be abandoned
And Ashkelon a desolation;
[The people of] Ashdod will be driven out at noon [in broad daylight]
And Ekron will be uprooted and destroyed.
5
Woe (judgment is coming) to the inhabitants of the seacoast,
The nation of the Cherethites [in Philistia]!
The word of the Lord is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
I will destroy you
So that no inhabitant will be left.
6
So the [depopulated] seacoast shall be pastures,
With [deserted] meadows for shepherds and folds for flocks.
7
The [a]seacoast will belong
To the remnant of the house of Judah;
They will pasture [their flocks] on it.
In the [deserted] houses of Ashkelon [in Philistia] they [of Judah] will lie down and rest in the evening,
For the Lord their God will care for them;
And restore their fortune [permitting them to occupy the land].(A)
Footnotes
- Zephaniah 2:7 This is one of the more than twenty-five details of Bible prophecy about the promised land that has been literally fulfilled. See note Ezek 26:14 for information about a similar fulfillment of Bible prophecy with regard to Tyre.
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