A Call to Repentance
1Gather yourselves together;
gather together, undesirable Or shameless nation,
2before the decree Jb 23:14; Ps 2:7; 148:6 takes effect
and the day passes like chaff,
before the burning of the Lord’s anger Nm 25:4; 32:14; Jr 4:8; 12:13; 25:37; 30:24; 51:45 overtakes you,
before the day of the Lord’s anger overtakes you. Lm 2:22
3Seek the Lord, 1Ch 22:19; 2Ch 12:14; 14:4; 15:12-13; 16:12; Ps 34:10; Is 9:13; 51:1; Hs 10:12; Am 5:14; Zph 1:6; Zch 8:21-22 all you humble Nm 12:3; Ps 25:9; 37:11; 76:9; Am 8:4 of the earth,
who carry out what He commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you will be concealed Gn 4:14; Ex 3:6; Ps 17:8
on the day of the Lord’s anger.
Judgment against the Nations
4For Gaza will be abandoned,
and Ashkelon will become a ruin.
Ashdod will be driven out at noon,
and Ekron will be uprooted. Jr 25:20; Am 1:6-8; Zch 9:5-7
5Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast,
nation of the Cherethites! = Sea Peoples Ezk 25:16
The word of the Lord is against you, Is 37:22; Jr 16:10; 42:19; Am 3:1
Canaan, land of the Philistines:
I will destroy you until there is no one left. Is 5:9; 6:11; Jr 4:7; 26:9; 33:10; 34:22; 44:22; 46:19; 48:9; Zph 3:6
6The seacoast will become pasturelands
with caves for shepherds and folds for sheep.
7The coastland will belong
to the remnant of the house of Judah;
they will find pasture there.
They will lie down in the evening
among the houses of Ashkelon,
for the Lord their God will return to them
and restore their fortunes. Ps 85:1; Jr 30:18; 48:47; Lm 2:14
8I have heard the taunting Ps 42:10; 102:8; 119:42; Mt 27:44; Heb 10:33 of Moab
and the insults of the Ammonites, Am 1:13
who have taunted My people
and threatened their territory.
9Therefore, as I live —
this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts,
the God of Israel —
Moab will be like Sodom Is 1:9; 3:9; 13:19; Jr 23:14; Rm 9:29
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah Gn 19:24-25 —
a place overgrown with weeds,
a salt pit, and a perpetual wasteland.
The remnant of My people will plunder them;
the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.
10This is what they get for their pride,
because they have taunted and acted arrogantly Jr 48:42
against the people of the Lord of Hosts.
11The Lord will be terrifying to them
when He starves all the gods of the earth.
Then all the distant coastlands of the nations
will bow in worship to Him,
each in its own place.
12You Cushites will also be slain by My sword. Is 18:1-7
13He will also stretch out His hand against the north
and destroy Assyria;
He will make Nineveh a desolate ruin, Nah 2:8; 3:7
dry as the desert.
14Herds will lie down in the middle of it,
every kind of wild animal. Lit every wild animal of a nation
Both the desert owl Or the pelican and the screech owl Or the hedgehog
will roost in the capitals of its pillars.
Their calls will sound Lit sing from the window,
but devastation LXX, Vg read ravens will be on the threshold,
for He will expose the cedar work. Hb obscure
15This is the self-assured Is 13:3; 22:2; 23:7; 24:8; 32:13; Zph 3:11 city
that lives in security,
that thinks to herself:
I exist, and there is no one else.
What a desolation she has become,
a place for wild animals to lie down!
Everyone who passes by her
jeers Or hisses and shakes his fist.
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