Zephaniah 2

God's people should turn back to him

1 Come together! Yes, come together now!

You are a nation of people who should be ashamed of yourselves.

2 The Lord has decided the day for your punishment,

so come together before it happens.

It will happen very quickly,

as wind blows away chaff.

The Lord's great anger will suddenly hit you.

Do something before that day arrives!

3 Turn to the Lord,

all you humble people of Judah who obey his commands.

Do things that are good and right

and be humble.

Then perhaps the Lord will protect you from his punishment,

on the day of his great anger.

God will destroy the Philistines

4 No people will remain in Gaza.

Ashkelon will become a heap of stones.

Enemies will chase out the people of Ashdod in one morning.

They will also destroy Ekron.

5  Terrible trouble will come to you people who came from Crete,

you people who live beside the sea!

The Lord has spoken against you,

Philistines who live in the land of Canaan!

He says, ‘I will destroy everyone who lives there!’

6 Your land beside the sea will become fields

where shepherds feed their sheep.

They will have safe places there

for their sheep and goats.

7 The land will belong to the people of Judah's tribe who are still alive.

They will live safely there.

They will use the houses in Ashkelon

as places to rest in the evening.

The Lord, their God, will take care of them.

He will give them success again.

God will punish Moab and Ammon

8 The Lord says,

‘I have heard the people of Moab and the people of Ammon.

They have insulted my people

and they have laughed at them.

They have boasted that they would attack my people's land

and take it for themselves.’

9 The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says,

‘I promise this, as surely as I live.

I will cause Moab and Ammon to become like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Weeds will cover the land.

People will dig salt out of the ground.

It will become a wilderness for ever.

My people who are still alive will take the land for themselves.

They will keep all the valuable things.’

10 God will punish the people of Moab and Ammon as they deserve.

They have been very proud people.

They have laughed at the people who belong to the Lord Almighty.

11 The Lord will cause them to be very afraid.

He will destroy the power of all the earth's false gods.

The people of all nations will worship the Lord.

They will worship him in the places where they live.

God will punish Ethiopia and Assyria

12 The Lord will also punish you people of Ethiopia.

He will cause you to die in battle.

13 The Lord will attack the people who live in the north.

He will destroy the nation of Assyria.

He will destroy its capital city, Nineveh.

It will become a heap of stones where nobody lives.

The land will be as dry as a desert.

14 Sheep, goats and cows will lie down there,

as well as many wild animals.

Hawks and owls will sleep on top of the pillars.

They will call through the windows.

Stones will lie on the ground in front of the buildings.

Cedar beams will lie outside.

15 All this will happen to that proud city,

the city where people were happy and safe.

They thought, ‘We live in the best city of all!

No other city is as great as our city!’

But now that city will become a heap of stones.

Only wild animals will have their homes there.

Everyone who sees that place will laugh at it.

They will shake their fists because it has lost its power.