Zephaniah 2:8-15

The Lord will destroy the people of other countries

8 The Lord of all his armies says, ‘I have heard the cruel people in the countries called Moab and Ammon.

They laugh about you and they say cruel things about you, my people.

They have thought that they were greater than you.

They have come against you.’

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

‘You can be sure that I live.

In the same way, you can also be sure that my people will take everything for themselves.

God will destroy Moab as he destroyed Sodom.

He will destroy Ammon as he destroyed Gomorrah.

After this, the ground will have lots of salt on it. Weeds will grow there.

Nobody will build anything there again.

My people who are still alive will take for themselves the Ammonites' things and the Moabites' things.’

10 That will happen to all proud people.

The proud people said cruel words to God's people.

The cruel people thought that they were greater than the people of the Lord Almighty.

11 The Lord will make them afraid.

He will destroy all the false gods.

People will worship him instead. Every person, in his own place, will worship God.

They will also worship him in the places where the people now believe in false gods.

12 ‘I will also punish you people in the country called Ethiopia.

Other people will kill you with a big knife,’ the Lord says.

13 The Lord will go against the north.

There, he will destroy the country called Assyria.

He will also destroy Nineveh city. That place will become as dry as a desert.

14 Sheep will lie down there.

All the wild animals of that place will live together there.

Vultures and owls will rest on top of the high, thin parts of the buildings.

They will sing in the windows.

Bits of doors will lie on the ground.

The Lord will tear down all the things in the houses that they have made from valuable wood.

15 All this will happen to that city, the proud city.

That city's people said in their minds,

‘Here we are. We are greater than all the other people.’

But then, other people will destroy their city! Only bits of it will still be there.

Then wild animals will come and they will lie down in it. People will see this.

So any people who pass by the city will make noises with their lips.

And they will hold their fists up. In this way, they will show that they think bad things about the city.