Zephaniah 2:4–3:8

Judgment against the Nations

4 For Gaza will be abandoned,

and Ashkelon will become a ruin.

Ashdod will be driven out at noon,

and Ekron will be uprooted. q

5 Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast,

nation of the Cherethites! r s

The word of the Lord is against you, t

Canaan, land of the Philistines:

I will destroy you until there is no one left. u

6 The seacoast will become pasturelands

with caves for shepherds and folds for sheep.

7 The coastland will belong

to the remnant of the house of Judah;

they will find pasture there.

They will lie down in the evening

among the houses of Ashkelon,

for the Lord their God will return to them

and restore their fortunes. v

8 I have heard the taunting w of Moab

and the insults of the Ammonites, x

who have taunted My people

and threatened their territory.

9 Therefore, as I live—

this is the declaration of the Lord of * Hosts,

the God of Israel—

Moab will be like Sodom y

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah z—

a place overgrown with weeds,

a salt pit, and a perpetual wasteland.

The remnant of My people will plunder them;

the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.

10 This is what they get for their pride,

because they have taunted and acted arrogantly a

against the people of the Lord of Hosts.

11 The Lord will be terrifying to them

when He starves all the gods of the earth.

Then all the distant coastlands of the nations

will bow in worship to Him,

each in its own place.

12 You * Cushites will also be slain by My sword. b

13 He will also stretch out His hand against the north

and destroy Assyria;

He will make Nineveh a desolate ruin, c

dry as the desert.

14 Herds will lie down in the middle of it,

every kind of wild animal. d

Both the desert owl e and the screech owl f

will roost in the capitals of its pillars.

Their calls will sound g from the window,

but devastation h will be on the threshold,

for He will expose the cedar work. i

15 This is the self-assured j city

that lives in security,

that thinks to herself:

I exist, and there is no one else.

What a desolation she has become,

a place for wild animals to lie down!

Everyone who passes by her

jeers k and shakes his fist.

Woe to Oppressive Jerusalem

3 Woe to the city that is rebellious l m and defiled, n

the oppressive city!

2 She has not obeyed; o

she has not accepted discipline. p

She has not trusted q in * Yahweh;

she has not drawn near to her God.

3 The r princes within her are roaring lions; s

her judges are wolves of the night, t

which leave nothing for u the morning.

4 Her prophets are reckless v—

treacherous men.

Her priests profane the sanctuary;

they do violence to instruction. w

5 The righteous Lord is in her; x

He does no wrong. y

He applies His justice morning by morning;

He does not fail at dawn,

yet the one who does wrong knows no shame. z

6 I have cut off nations;

their corner towers a are destroyed.

I have laid waste their streets,

with no one to pass through.

Their cities lie devastated,

without a person, without an inhabitant. b

7 I thought: You will certainly * fear Me

and accept correction.

Then her dwelling place c

would not be cut off

based on all that I had allocated to her.

However, they became more corrupt

in all their actions.

8 Therefore, wait for Me d—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

until the day I rise up for plunder. e

For My decision is to gather nations,

to assemble kingdoms,

in order to pour out My indignation f on them,

all My burning anger;

for the whole earth will be consumed

by the fire of My jealousy. g