Seek Yahweh Before His Day of Anger
Gather yourselves together, indeed, agather,
O nation bwithout shame,
2 Before the decree takes effect—
The day passes alike the chaff—
Before the bburning anger of Yahweh comes upon you,
Before the cday of Yahweh’s anger comes upon you.
3 aSeek Yahweh,
All you bhumble of the earth
Who have worked His justice;
cSeek righteousness, seek humility.
Perhaps you will be dhidden
In the day of Yahweh’s anger.
4 For aGaza will be forsaken
And Ashkelon a desolation;
aAshdod will be driven out at noon,
And aEkron will be uprooted.
5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,
The nation of the aCherethites!
The word of Yahweh is bagainst you,
O cCanaan, land of the Philistines;
And I will dmake you perish
So that there will be eno inhabitant.
6 So the seacoast will be apastures,
With caves for shepherds and folds for flocks.
7 And the coast will be
For the aremnant of the house of Judah;
They will bfeed upon it.
In the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down at evening;
For Yahweh their God will ccare for them
And drestore their fortune.
8 “I have heard the areproach of Moab
And the brevilings of the sons of Ammon,
With which they have reproached My people
And cmagnified themselves against their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live,” declares Yahweh of hosts,
The God of Israel,
“Surely aMoab will be like bSodom
And the sons of cAmmon like dGomorrah—
A place possessed by nettles and salt pits,
And a perpetual desolation.
The remnant of My people will eplunder them,
And the remainder of My nation will inherit them.”
10 This they will have in return for their apride because they have breproached and magnified themselves against the people of Yahweh of hosts. 11 Yahweh will be afearsome to them, for He will starve ball the gods of the earth; and all the ccoastlands of the nations will dbow down to Him, everyone from his own place.
12 “You also, O aEthiopians, will be slain by My sword.”
13 And He will astretch out His hand against the north
And cause bAssyria to perish,
And He will make cNineveh a desolation,
Parched like the wilderness.
14 Flocks will lie down in her midst,
All the beasts of the nation;
Both the apelican and the hedgehog
Will lodge in the tops of her pillars;
Their voice will sing in the window,
Ruin will be on the threshold;
For He has laid bare the cedar work.
15 This is the aexultant city
Which binhabits securely,
Who says in her heart,
“cI am, and there is no one besides me.”
How she has become an object of dhorror,
A resting place for beasts!
eEveryone who passes by her will hiss
And wave his hand in contempt.