Zephaniah 2:4–15

^4aFor Gaza shall be deserted,

and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;

Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon,

and Ekron shall be uprooted.

⁵Woe to ^byou inhabitants of the seacoast,

you nation of ^cthe Cherethites!

^dThe word of the Lord is against you,

^eO Canaan, land of the Philistines;

and I will destroy you ^funtil no inhabitant is left.

^6gAnd you, O seacoast, ^hshall be pastures,

with meadows³ for shepherds

and folds for flocks.

⁷ⁱThe seacoast shall become the possession

of ^jthe remnant of the house of Judah,

^hon which they shall graze,

and in the houses of Ashkelon

they shall lie down at evening.

For the Lord their God ^kwill be mindful of them

and ^lrestore their fortunes.

⁸“I have heard ^mthe taunts of Moab

and ⁿthe revilings of the Ammonites,

how they have taunted my people

and made boasts ^oagainst their territory.

⁹Therefore, ^pas I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel,

“Moab shall become ^qlike Sodom,

and the Ammonites ^qlike 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.”

¹⁰This shall be their lot in return ^rfor their pride,

because they taunted and boasted

against the people of the Lord of hosts.

¹¹The Lord will be awesome against them;

^sfor he will famish all the gods of the earth,

and ^tto him shall bow down,

each in its place,

all ^uthe lands of the nations.

^12vYou also, O Cushites,

shall be slain by my sword.

¹³And he will stretch out his hand against the north

^wand destroy Assyria,

and he ^xwill make Nineveh a desolation,

a dry waste like the desert.

^14yHerds shall lie down in her midst,

all kinds of beasts;⁴

^zeven the owl and the hedgehog⁵

shall lodge in her capitals;

a voice shall hoot in the window;

devastation will be on the threshold;

for ^aher cedar work will be laid bare.

¹⁵This is the exultant city

^bthat lived securely,

that said in her heart,

“I am, and there is no one else.”

What a desolation she has become,

^ca lair for wild beasts!

^dEveryone who passes by her

hisses and ^eshakes his fist.