Chapter 2
1Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation that
has no shame,
2before the appointed time when the day passes as the
chaff, before the fierce anger of Yahweh comes on you, before the day of
Yahweh’s anger comes on you.
3Seek Yahweh, 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 Yahweh’s anger.
4For
Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod
at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up.
5Woe to the inhabitants of the
sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Yahweh is against you,
Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you, that there will be
no inhabitant.
6The sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for
shepherds and folds for flocks.
7The 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 Yahweh, their God, will visit them, and restore
them.
8I 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.
9Therefore as I live, says Yahweh 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.
10This they will have for their pride, because they
have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Yahweh of
Armies.
11Yahweh 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.
12You Cushites also, you will be killed
by my sword.
13He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy
Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness.
14Herds will lie down in the midst of her, all the animals of the
nations. 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.
15This is the joyous city that
lived carelessly, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is none 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.
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