Judgment of Judah’s Enemies

¹ Gather yourselves together! Now gather together, O nation having no shame!

² Before the birth of the decree, the day flies away like chaff; before the fierce anger of Yahweh overtakes you; before the day of the anger of Yahweh overtakes you.

³ Seek Yahweh, all you afflicted of the land who have fulfilled his law; seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the anger of Yahweh.

⁴ For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon as a desolation. As for Ashdod, at noon they will drive her away, and Ekron shall be uprooted.

⁵ Woe to you, inhabitants of the region of the sea, people of the Kerethites! The word of Yahweh is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. I will destroy you ⌞until there is no inhabitant⌟.¹

1. Literally “from there is not an inhabitant”

⁶ And you, O region of the sea, shall become pastures and meadows for shepherds and sheep pens for the flocks.

⁷ And it shall become a region for the remnant of the house of Judah; upon them they shall graze, and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down in the evening. For Yahweh their God shall be mindful of them, and he will restore their fortunes.

⁸ I have heard the reproaches of Moab and the scorning of the ⌞Ammonites⌟,¹ with which they have taunted my nation and made boasts against their territory.

1. Literally “sons/children of Ammon”

⁹ “Therefore, as I live”—a declaration of Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel— “Moab shall be as Sodom, and the ⌞Ammonites⌟¹ like Gomorrah, a place of weeds and salt pits and a desolation forever. The remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the remainder of my nation shall possess them.”

1. Literally “sons/children of Ammon”

¹⁰ This shall be for them in place of their pride because they mocked and boasted against the people of Yahweh of hosts.

¹¹ Yahweh will be awesome against them, for he will destroy all the gods of the earth and all the lands¹ of the nations; each in its place will bow down to him.

1. Or “islands”

¹² You also, O Cushites, they shall be killed by my sword.

¹³ And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and he will destroy Assyria and will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry wasteland like the desert.

¹⁴ Herds shall lie down in her midst, every wild animal of a nation; even the desert owl and the screech owl shall lodge on her capitals. A voice shall hoot in the window; rubble¹ on the threshold; for the cedar is laid bare.

1. The traditional Hebrew text has “waste,” while LXX has “a raven,” reflecting a different word with one consonant changed

¹⁵ This is the city of rejoicing that lived securely; the one saying in her heart, “⌞I am, and there is none besides me⌟.”¹ How she has become a desolation, a lair for wild animals! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

1. Literally “I am and none me”