Zefanja 2 | New International Reader’s Version

The Lord will judge Judah and Jerusalem along with the nations

God calls Judah to turn away from their sins

1 Gather together, you shameful nation of Judah! Gather yourselves together! 2 Come together before the LORD’s judgment arrives. The day of the LORD’s judgment will sweep in like straw blown by the wind. Soon the LORD’s great anger will come against you. The day of his wrath will come against you. 3 So look to him, all you people in the land who worship him faithfully. You always do what he commands you to do. Continue to do what is right. Don’t be proud. Then perhaps the LORD will keep you safe on the day he pours out his anger on the world.

A message about Philistia

4 Gaza will be deserted. Ashkelon will be destroyed. Ashdod will be emptied out at noon. Ekron will be pulled up by its roots. 5 How terrible it will be for you Kerethites who live by the Mediterranean Sea! Philistia, the LORD has spoken against you. What happened to Canaan will happen to you. The LORD says, ‘I will destroy you. No one will be left.’ 6 The land by the sea will become grasslands. It will have wells for shepherds and pens for flocks. 7 That land will belong to those who are still left alive among the people of Judah. They will find grasslands there. They will take over the houses in Ashkelon and live in them. The LORD their God will take care of them. He will bless them with great success again.

A message about Moab and Ammon

8 The LORD says, ‘I have heard Moab make fun of my people. The Ammonites also laughed at them. They told them that bad things would happen to their land. 9 So Moab will become like Sodom,’ announces the LORD who rules over all. ‘Ammon will be like Gomorrah. Weeds and salt pits will cover those countries. They will be dry and empty deserts for ever. Those who are still left alive among my people will take all their valuable things. So they will receive those lands as their own. And that is just as sure as I am alive.’ The LORD is the God of Israel. 10 Moab and Ammon will be judged because they are so proud. They made fun of the LORD’s people. They laughed at them. 11 The LORD who rules over all will terrify Moab and Ammon. He will destroy all the gods on earth. Then distant nations will bow down to him. All of them will serve him in their own lands. 12 The LORD says, ‘People of Cush, you too will die by my sword.’

A message about Cush A message about Assyria

13 The LORD will reach out his powerful hand against the north. He will destroy Assyria. He’ll leave Nineveh totally empty. It will be as dry as a desert. 14 Flocks and herds will lie down there. So will creatures of every kind. Desert owls and screech owls will rest on its pillars. The sound of their hooting will echo through the windows. The doorways will be full of rubble. The cedar beams will be showing. 15 Nineveh was a carefree city. It lived in safety. It said to itself, ‘I am the one! No one is greater than I am.’ But it has been destroyed. Wild animals make their home there. All those who pass by laugh and shake their fists at it.

English Standard Version

Judgment on Judah’s Enemies

1 Gather together, yes, gather, O shameless nation, 2 before the decree takes effect* —before the day passes away like chaff— before there comes upon you the burning anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the Lord. 3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands;* seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord. 4 For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted. 5 Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. 6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures, with meadows* for shepherds and folds for flocks. 7 The seacoast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah, on which they shall graze, and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. For the Lord their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes. 8 “I have heard the taunts of Moab and the revilings of the Ammonites, how they have taunted my people and made boasts against their territory. 9 Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Moab shall become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a land possessed by nettles and salt pits, and a waste forever. The remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.” 10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride, because they taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts. 11 The Lord will be awesome against them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth, and to him shall bow down, each in its place, all the lands of the nations. 12 You also, O Cushites, shall be slain by my sword. 13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, and he will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like the desert. 14 Herds shall lie down in her midst, all kinds of beasts;* even the owl and the hedgehog* shall lodge in her capitals; a voice shall hoot in the window; devastation will be on the threshold; for her cedar work will be laid bare. 15 This is the exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one else.” What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild beasts! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

Zefanja 2 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version