Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation ||not adesired;

2  bBefore the decree bring forth, before the day pass cas the chaff,

dBefore the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you,

Before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you.

3  eSeek ye the Lord, fall ye meek of the earth,

Which have wrought his judgment;

Seek righteousness, seek meekness:

It gmay be hye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.

4  For ijkGaza shall be lforsaken, and ijmAshkelon a desolation:

They shall drive out jnAshdod oat the noon day, and jpEkron qshall be rooted up.

5  Woe unto the inhabitants of rthe sea vcoast, the nation of the sCherethites!

The word of the Lord is against you;

tO Canaan, the land of the Philistines,

I will even destroy thee, uthat there shall be no inhabitant.

6  And the sea vcoast wshall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and xfolds for flocks.

7  And vthe coast shall be for xxthe remnant of the house of Judah;

yThey shall feed thereupon:

yIn the houses of mAshkelon shall they zlie down in the evening:

||For the Lord their God shall avisit them, and bturn away their captivity.

8  cI have heard dthe reproach of Moab,

And dthe revilings of ethe children of Ammon,

Whereby they have reproached my people,

And fmagnified themselves gagainst their border.

9  Therefore has I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,

Surely cMoab shall be ias Sodom, and ethe children of Ammon ias Gomorrah,

Even the breeding of knettles, and isaltpits, and la perpetual desolation:

mThe residue of my people shall spoil them,

And the remnant of nmy people shall possess them.

10  This shall they have ofor their pride,

Because they have reproached and fmagnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts.

11  The Lord will be terrible unto them:

For phe will †famish all the gods of the earth;

And qmen shall worship him, revery one from his place,

Even all sthe isles of the heathen.

12  tYe Ethiopians also, ye shall be uslain by vmy sword.

13  And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and wdestroy Assyria;

And will make xNineveh ya desolation, and dry like a wilderness.

14  And flocks shall zalie down in the midst of her, aall the beasts of the nations:

Both the ||bcormorant and bcthe bittern shall lodge in the ||upper lintels of it;

Their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in dthe thresholds:

||For he shall dduncover ethe cedar work.

15  This is fthe rejoicing city gthat dwelt carelessly,

ghThat said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me:

How is she become a desolation, ia place for beasts to lie down in!

jEvery one that passeth by her jkshall hiss, and lwag his hand.

3 Woe to ||†her that is filthy and polluted, to athe oppressing city!

2  She bobeyed not the voice; she creceived not ||correction;

She dtrusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God.

3  efHer princes within her are groaring lions;

fHer judges are hevening ewolves;

They gnaw not the bones till the morrow.

4  ijHer prophets are klight and treacherous persons:

iHer priests lhave polluted the sanctuary, lthey have done violence to the law.

5  mThe just Lord nis in the midst thereof; ohe will not do iniquity:

†Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he pfaileth not;

But qthe unjust knoweth no shame. 6 I have cut off the qqnations: their ||rtowers are desolate;

I made their streets waste, rrthat none passeth by:

Their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, sthat there is none inhabitant.

7  tI said, Surely thou wilt fear me, cthou wilt receive instruction;

uSo their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them:

But vthey rose early, and wcorrupted all their doings.

8  Therefore xwait ye upon me, saith the Lord,

Until the day that I rise up to ythe prey:

For my determination is zto gather the nations,

zThat I may assemble the kingdoms,

To pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger:

For aall the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.