rd

Zephaniah 2

He moveth to return to God, 5 Prophecying destruction against the Philistims, Moábites and others.
1.Gather ayour selves, even gather you, ô nation not worthy to be loved,
2.Before the decree come forth, and ye be as chaff that passeth in a day, & before the fierce wrath of the Lord come upon you, & before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you.
3.Seek ye the Lord all the meek of the earth, which bhave wroght his judgement: seek righteousness, seek lowliness, if so be that ye may be hid in the day of the Lord’s wrath.
4.For cAzzáh shal be forsaken, and Ashkelón desolate: they shal drive out Ashdód at the noon day, and Ekrón shal be rooted up.
5.Wo unto the inhabitants of the sea dcoast: the nation of the Cherethims, the word of the Lord is against you: ô Canáan, the land of the Philistíms, I will even destroy thee without an inhabitant.
6.And the sea coast shalbe dwellings and cottages for shepherds and shepefoldes.
7.And that coast shal be for the eremnant of the house of Judáh, to feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelón shal they lodge toward night: for the Lord their God shal visit them, and turn away their captivity.
8.I have heard the reproach of Moáb, and the rebukes of the children of Ammón, whereby they upbraided my people, and fmagnified them selves against their borders.
9.Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord of hostes, the God of Israél, surely Moáb shal be as Sodóm, and the children of Ammón as Gomoráh, even the breeding of nettles and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my folk shal spoil them, and the remnant of my people shal possess them.
10.This shal they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified them selves against the Lord of hostes’ people.
11.The Lord wil be terrible unto them: gfor he will consume all the gods of the earth, and every man shal worship him from his place, even all the yles of the heathen.
12.Ye Morians also shalbe slain by my sword with them.
13.And he will stretch out his hand against the North, and destroy Asshúr, & will make Ninevéh desolate, & waste like a wilderness.
14.And flocks shal lie in the middes of her, and all the beasts of the nations, and the hpellicane, and the ^owl shal abide in the upper posts of it: the voice of birds shal sing in the windows, and desolations shalbe upon the posts: for the cedars are uncovered.
15.This is ithe rejoycing city that dwelt careless, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none besides me: how is she made waste, and the lodging of the beasts! every one that passeth by her, shal hiss and wag his hand.

Notes

1-a.
He exhorts them to repentance and wills them to descend into them- selves and gather themselves together, lest they be scattered like chaff.
3-b.
That is, which have lived uprightly and godly according as he prescribes by his word.
4-c.
He comforts the faithful in that, that God would change his punish- ments from them unto the Philistims their enemies and other nations.
5-d.
That is, Galilea: by these nations he means the people that dwelt near to the Jews and instead of friendship were their enemy: therefore he calls them Canaanites whom the Lord appointed to be slain.
7-e.
He shows why God would destroy their enemies, because their country might be a resting place for his Church.
8-f.
These nations presumed to take from the Jews that country which the Lord had given them.
11-g.
When he shall deliver his people and destroy their enemies and idols, his glory shall shine throughout all the world.
14-^.
Or, hedgehog.
14-h.
Read, Is. 34.11.
15-i.
Meaning, Nineveh, which rejoicing so much of her strength and prosperity, should be thus made waste and God’s people delivered.