Zephaniah 2
1Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; 1
2Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, 1 Before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, 1 Before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. 1
3Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, 1 Which have wrought his judgment; 1 Seek righteousness, seek meekness: 1 It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger. 1
4For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: 1 They shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up. 1
5Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! 1 The word of the Lord is against you; 1 O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, 1 I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. 1
6And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. 1
7And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; 1 They shall feed thereupon: 1 In the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: 1 For the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity. 1
8I have heard the reproach of Moab, 1 And the revilings of the children of Ammon, 1 Whereby they have reproached my people, 1 And magnified themselves against their border. 1
9Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 1 Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, 1 Even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: 1 The residue of my people shall spoil them, 1 And the remnant of my people shall possess them. 1
10This shall they have for their pride, 1 Because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts. 1
11The Lord will be terrible unto them: 1 For he will famish all the gods of the earth; 1 And men shall worship him, every one from his place, 1 Even all the isles of the heathen. 1
12Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. 1
13And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; 1 And will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. 1
14And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: 1 Both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; 1 Their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: 1 For he shall uncover the cedar work. 1
15This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, 1 That said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: 1 How is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! 1 Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.