TSEPHANYAH 2

1 Gather together, gather together, O nation without shame,

2 before the decree is born – the day shall pass on like chaff – before the burning wrath of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 comes upon you, before the day of wrath of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 comes upon you!

3 Seek 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, all you meek ones of the earth, who have done His Right-Ruling. Seek righteousness, seek meekness, if so be that you are hidden in the day of wrath of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

4 For Azzah is abandoned and Ashqelon laid waste, Ashdoḏ is driven out at noonday and Eqron is uprooted.

5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Kerĕthites! The word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 is against you, O Kena’an, land of the Pelishtites, “And I shall destroy you, so that there is no inhabitant.”

6 And the seacoast shall be pastures, shepherds’ meadows and enclosures for flocks.

7 And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Yahuḏah. They shall feed their flocks on it, at evening they lie down in the houses of Ashqelon. For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 their Elohim shall visit them and turn back their captivity.

8 “I have heard the reproach of Mo’aḇ, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, with which they have reproached My people, and exalted themselves against their borders.

9 “Therefore, as I live,” declares 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’el, “Mo’aḇ shall be like Seḏom, and the children of Ammon like Amorah – a possession for weeds and a pit of salt, and a waste forever, the remnant of My people plunder them, and the rest of My nation possess them.”

10 This is what they get for their pride, because they have reproached and exalted themselves against the people of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts.

11 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall be awesome to them, for He shall make all the mighty ones of the earth to shrivel, while all the coastlands of the nations bow down to Him, each one from his place.

12 “You too, O Kushites, are to be slain by My sword.”

13 And He shall stretch out His hand against the north, and destroy Ashshur, and make Ninewĕh a waste, as dry as a wilderness.

14 And droves shall lie down in her midst, every beast of the nation, both pelican and bittern lodge in the tops of her columns, a voice singing at the window, ruin be at the threshold, for the cedar work is exposed.

15 This is the exultant city that is dwelling in safety, that said in her heart, “I am it, and there is none but me.” How she has become a waste, a place for beasts to lie down! Everyone who passes by her whistles and shakes his fist.