The Prophet Zephaniah

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(Joel 1:13–20; Amos 5:4–15; Luke 13:1–5)

You people of Judah who ought to be ashamed, gather together to ask for God to be merciful to you.

Yahweh is very angry with you, so gather together now, before he punishes you, before he punishes you and sweeps you away as the wind blows away the chaff.

All you people in Judah who are humble, worship Yahweh and obey what he has commanded. Try to do what is right and to be humble. If you do that, perhaps Yahweh will protect you on the day when he punishes people.

Judgment on the Philistines

(Jeremiah 47:1–7)

When Yahweh punishes Philistia, the cities of Gaza and Ashkelon will lose all their inhabitants. Ashdod will be attacked and the people will be driven away at noon, when they are resting. The people of the city of Ekron will also be driven out.

And terrible things will happen to you people of Philistia who live near the sea, because Yahweh has said he will punish you, also. He will get rid of all of you; not one of you will survive!

The land of Philistia near the sea will become a pasture, a place for shepherds and their sheep pens.

The people of Judah who survive will possess that land. At night they will sleep in the deserted houses in Ashkelon. Yahweh will take care of them; he will enable them to prosper again.

Judgment on Moab and Ammon

(Isaiah 16:1–14; Jeremiah 48:1–47)

Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, the God of the Israelites, says this: “I have heard the people of Moab and Ammon insult my people and plan to conquer my people’s country.

So now, as surely as I live, I will destroy Moab and Ammon as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Their land will be a place where there are nettles and salt pits; it will be ruined forever, with none of their people living there! My people who survive will take away all their valuable possessions and also occupy their land.”

The people of Moab and Ammon will get what they deserve for being proud, because they made fun of the people who belong to Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies.

Yahweh will cause them to be terrified when he destroys all the gods of their countries. Then people from every nation will worship Yahweh, each in his own country.

Judgment on Cush and Assyria

Yahweh says that he will also slaughter the people of Ethiopia.

Yahweh will punish and destroy Assyria, that land northeast of us, and cause its capital Nineveh to become ruined and deserted, and as dry as the desert.

Flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and many kinds of wild animals will lie down there. Owls and crows will sit on the columns of the destroyed buildings, and they will hoot through the windows. There will be rubble in the doorways, and the valuable cedar beams in the roofs of the buildings will become visible.

The people of Nineveh used to be happy and proud, thinking that they were very safe. They were always saying, “Our city is the greatest city; there is no city as great as ours!” But now it will become a horrible place to see, a place where wild animals make their dens. And everyone who passes by there will hiss and scorn that city, and shake their fists to show that they detest that city very much.

(Joel 1:13–20; Amos 5:4–15; Luke 13:1–5)

Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation that has no shame,

before the appointed time when the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes on you, before the day of the LORD’s anger comes on you.

Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the LORD’s anger.

Judgment on the Philistines

(Jeremiah 47:1–7)

For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up.

Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The LORD’s word is against you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you until there is no inhabitant.

The sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.

The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will find pasture. In the houses of Ashkelon, they will lie down in the evening, for the LORD, their God,(a) will visit them and restore them.

Judgment on Moab and Ammon

(Isaiah 16:1–14; Jeremiah 48:1–47)

I have heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the children of Ammon, with which they have reproached my people and magnified themselves against their border.

Therefore, as I live, says the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will inherit them.

This they will have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of Armies.

The LORD will be awesome to them, for he will famish all the gods of the land. Men will worship him, everyone from his place, even all the shores of the nations.

Judgment on Cush and Assyria

You Cushites also, you will be killed by my sword.

He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as the wilderness.

Herds will lie down in the middle of her, all kinds of animals. Both the pelican and the porcupine will lodge in its capitals. Their calls will echo through the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds, for he has laid bare the cedar beams.

This is the joyous city that lived carelessly, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” How she has become a desolation, a place for animals to lie down in! Everyone who passes by her will hiss and shake their fists.

Fußnoten

(a)2:7 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).