Judgment on Nations

4 For eGaza shall be forsaken,

And Ashkelon desolate;

They shall drive out Ashdod fat noonday,

And Ekron shall be uprooted.

5 Woe to the inhabitants of gthe seacoast,

The nation of the Cherethites!

The word of the Lord is against you,

O hCanaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy you;

So there shall be no inhabitant.”

6 The seacoast shall be pastures,

With 2shelters for shepherds iand folds for flocks.

7 The coast shall be for jthe remnant of the house of Judah;

They shall feed their flocks there;

In the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening.

For the Lord their God will kintervene 3for them,

And lreturn their captives.

8 “I mhave heard the reproach of Moab,

And nthe insults of the people of Ammon,

With which they have reproached My people,

And omade arrogant threats against their borders.

9 Therefore, as I live,”

Says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,

“Surely pMoab shall be like Sodom,

And qthe people of Ammon like Gomorrah—

rOverrun 4with weeds and saltpits,

And a 5perpetual desolation.

The residue of My people shall plunder them,

And the remnant of My people shall possess them.”

10 This they shall have sfor their pride,

Because they have reproached and made arrogant threats

Against the people of the Lord of hosts.

11 The Lord will be awesome to them,

For He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth;

tPeople shall worship Him,

Each one from his place,

Indeed all uthe shores of the nations.

12 “You vEthiopians also,

You shall be slain by wMy sword.”

13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north,

xDestroy Assyria,

And make Nineveh a desolation,

As dry as the wilderness.

14 The herds shall lie down in her midst,

yEvery beast of the nation.

Both the zpelican and the bittern

Shall lodge on the capitals of her pillars;

Their voice shall sing in the windows;

Desolation shall be at the threshold;

For He will lay bare the acedar work.

15 This is the rejoicing city

bThat dwelt securely,

cThat said in her heart,

“I am it, and there is none besides me.”

How has she become a desolation,

A place for beasts to lie down!

Everyone who passes by her

dShall hiss and eshake his fist.