Tsephanyah ב

Zephaniah 2 (CKJV)

¹ Gather together, gather, 
O nation without shame;

² Before the decree bring forth, 
Before the day pass as the chaff, 
Before the fierce anger of  יְהֹוָה  come upon you, 
Before the day of  יְהֹוָה 's anger come upon you.

³ Seek  יְהֹוָה , 
All you humble of the earth, 
Who have fulfilled His Torah; 
Seek righteousness, 
Seek meekness: 
Perhaps you shall be hid 
On the day of wrath of  יְהֹוָה .

⁴ For Gaza shall be forsaken, 
And Ashkelon a desolation: 
They shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, 
And Ekron shall be rooted up.

⁵ Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, 
The nation of the Cherethites! 
The Word of  יְהֹוָה  is against you; 
O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, 
I will even destroy you, 
That there shall be no inhabitant.

⁶ And the sea coast shall be 
dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.

⁷ And the coast shall be for the remnant of the 
   house of Judah; 
They shall feed there on: 
In the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: 
For  יְהֹוָה  their Elohim shall visit them, 
and turn away their captivity.

⁸ I have heard the insults of Moab, 
And the jeers of the children of Ammon, 
With which they have insulted My people, 
And gloated over their own country.

⁹ Therefore as I live, 
                                 --declares  יְהֹוָה  of armies, 
                                                   The Elohim of Israel--
Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, 
And the children of Ammon as Gomorrah:
Clumps of weeds, and patches of salt, 
And a perpetual desolation: 
The remnant of my people shall plunder them, 
The remnant of my people shall possess them.

¹⁰ This shall they have for their pride, 
because they have reproached and magnified themselves 
against the people of  יְהֹוָה  of armies.

¹¹  יְהֹוָה  will be terrible unto them: 
He will famish all the gods of the earth; 
And all the coastlands of the nations 
Shall bow down to Him --
Every man in his own home.

¹² You Cushites also, 
They shall be slain by My sword.

¹³ And He will stretch out His Arm against the north, 
And destroy Assyria; 
He will make Nineveh a desolation, 
Dry like a wilderness.

¹⁴ And flocks shall lie down 
in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: 
While jackdaws and owls roost on its capitals,
The great owl hoots in the window,
And the raven on the threshold.
Ffor He has stripped its cedar work bare.

¹⁵ This is the rejoicing city 
that dwelt secure, 
that said in her heart, 
"I am, and there is none beside me"?
Alas, she is become a desolation, 
A lair of wild beasts! 
Everyone who passes by her 
Hisses and gestures with his hand.