CHAPTER 2
before
the decree
takes effect
and the day
passes
like chaff,
before
the burning
anger
of the LORD
comes
upon you,
before
the Day
of the LORD’s
anger
comes
upon you.
Seek
the LORD,
all
you humble
of the earth,
who
carry out
His justice.
Seek
righteousness;
seek
humility.
Perhaps
you will be sheltered
on the Day
of the LORD’s
anger.
For
Gaza
will be
abandoned,
and Ashkelon
left in ruins.
Ashdod
will be driven out
at noon,
and Ekron
will be uprooted.
Woe
to the inhabitants
of
the seacoast,
O nation
of the Cherethites!
The word
of the LORD
is against you,
O Canaan,
land
of the Philistines:
‘I will destroy you,
and no one will be
left.’
So the seacoast
will become
a land of pastures,
having caves
filled with shepherds
and folds
with sheep.
The coast will belong
to
the remnant
of the house
of Judah;
there
they will find pasture.
They will lie down
in the evening
among the houses
of Ashkelon,
for
the LORD
their God
will attend to them
and restore
their captives.
I have heard
the reproach
of Moab
and the insults
of the Ammonites,
who
have taunted
My people
and threatened
their borders.
Therefore,
as surely as I
live,
declares
the LORD
of Hosts,
the God
of Israel,
surely
Moab
will be
like Sodom
and the Ammonites
like Gomorrah—
a place
of weeds
and
saltpits,
and a perpetual
wasteland.
The remnant
of My people
will plunder them;
the remainder
of My nation
will dispossess them.
This
they shall have
in return for
their pride,
for
taunting
and mocking
the people
of the LORD
of Hosts.
The LORD
will be terrifying
to them
when
He starves
all
the gods
of the earth.
Then the nations
of every
shore
will bow in worship
to Him,
each
in their own place.
And He will stretch out
His hand
against
the north
and destroy
Assyria;
He will make
Nineveh
a desolation,
as dry
as a desert.
Herds
will lie down
in her midst,
creatures
of every kind.
Both
the desert owl
and
screech owl
will roost
atop her pillars.
Their calls
will sound
from the window,
but desolation
will lie on the threshold,
for
He will expose
the beams of cedar.
This
carefree
city
that dwells
securely,
that thinks
to herself:
‘I am it,
and there is none
besides me,’
what
a ruin
she has become,
a resting place
for beasts.
Everyone
who passes
by her
hisses
and shakes
his fist.