A Call to Repentance
Gathera yourselves together, yes, gather together,
O undesirable nation,
2 Before the decree is issued,
Or the day passes like chaff,
Before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you,
Before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you!
3 aSeek the Lord, ball you meek of the earth,
Who have upheld His justice.
Seek righteousness, seek humility.
cIt may be that you will be hidden
In the day of the Lord’s anger.
Judgment on Nations
4 For aGaza shall be forsaken,
And Ashkelon desolate;
They shall drive out Ashdod bat noonday,
And Ekron shall be uprooted.
5 Woe to the inhabitants of athe seacoast,
The nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the Lord is against you,
O bCanaan, land of the Philistines:
“I will destroy you;
So there shall be no inhabitant.”
6 The seacoast shall be pastures,
With shelters for shepherds aand folds for flocks.
7 The coast shall be for athe remnant of the house of Judah;
They shall feed their flocks there;
In the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God will bintervene for them,
And creturn their captives.
8 “Ia have heard the reproach of Moab,
And bthe insults of the people of Ammon,
With which they have reproached My people,
And cmade arrogant threats against their borders.
9 Therefore, as I live,”
Says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
“Surely aMoab shall be like Sodom,
And bthe people of Ammon like Gomorrah—
cOverrun with weeds and saltpits,
And a perpetual desolation.
The residue of My people shall plunder them,
And the remnant of My people shall possess them.”
10 This they shall have afor their pride,
Because they have reproached and made arrogant threats
Against the people of the Lord of hosts.
11 The Lord will be awesome to them,
For He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth;
aPeople shall worship Him,
Each one from his place,
Indeed all bthe shores of the nations.
12 “Youa Ethiopians also,
You shall be slain by bMy sword.”
13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north,
aDestroy Assyria,
And make Nineveh a desolation,
As dry as the wilderness.
14 The herds shall lie down in her midst,
aEvery beast of the nation.
Both the bpelican and the bittern
Shall lodge on the capitals of her pillars;
Their voice shall sing in the windows;
Desolation shall be at the threshold;
For He will lay bare the ccedar work.
15 This is the rejoicing city
aThat dwelt securely,
bThat said in her heart,
“I am it, and there is none besides me.”
How has she become a desolation,
A place for beasts to lie down!
Everyone who passes by her
cShall hiss and dshake his fist.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved.