2:1 | Bunch yourselves together like straw,* you undesirable* nation, |
2:2 | before God’s decree becomes reality* and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff,* before the Lord’s raging anger* overtakes* you – before the day of the Lord’s angry judgment overtakes you! |
2:3 | Seek the Lord’s favor,* all you humble people* of the land who have obeyed his commands!* Strive to do what is right!* Strive to be humble!* Maybe you will be protected* on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment. |
2:4 | Indeed,* Gaza will be deserted* and Ashkelon will become a heap of ruins.* Invaders will drive away the people of Ashdod by noon,* and Ekron will be overthrown.* |
2:5 | Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete,* are as good as dead.* The Lord has decreed your downfall,* Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy everyone who lives there!”* |
2:6 | The seacoast* will be used as pasture lands* by the shepherds and as pens for their flocks. |
2:7 | Those who are left from the kingdom of Judah* will take possession of it.* By the sea* they* will graze, in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening, for the Lord their God will intervene for them* and restore their prosperity.* |
2:8 | “I have heard Moab’s taunts and the Ammonites’ insults. They* taunted my people and verbally harassed those living in Judah.* |
2:9 | Therefore, as surely as I live,” says the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel, “be certain that Moab will become like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah. They will be overrun by weeds,* filled with salt pits,* and permanently desolate. Those of my people who are left* will plunder their belongings;* those who are left in Judah* will take possession of their land.” |
2:10 | This is how they will be repaid for their arrogance,* for they taunted and verbally harassed* the people of the Lord who commands armies. |
2:11 | The Lord will terrify them,* for* he will weaken* all the gods of the earth. All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands.* |
2:12 | “You* Ethiopians* will also die by my sword!”* |
2:13 | The Lord* will attack the north* and destroy Assyria. He will make Nineveh a heap of ruins; it will be as barren* as the desert. |
2:14 | Flocks and herds* will lie down in the middle of it, as well as every kind of wild animal.* Owls* will sleep in the tops of its support pillars; they will hoot through the windows.* Rubble will cover the thresholds;* even the cedar work* will be exposed to the elements.* |
2:15 | This is how the once-proud city will end up* – the city that was so secure.* She thought to herself,* “I am unique! No one can compare to me!”* What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live! Everyone who passes by her taunts her* and shakes his fist.* |