Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation that hath no {Or, longing}shame;
before the decree bring forth, {Or, (the day passeth as the chaff)}before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Jehovah come upon you, before the day of Jehovah's anger come upon you.
Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah's anger.
For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
Woe unto the inhabitants of {Or, the region of the sea}the sea-coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Jehovah is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines; I will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.
And the sea-coast shall be pastures, with {Or, caves}cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.
And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed their flocks thereupon; in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening; for Jehovah their God will visit them, and {Or, return to}bring back their captivity.
I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, wherewith they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.
Therefore as I live, saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of {Or, wild vetches}nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall make a prey of them, and the remnant of my nation shall inherit them.
This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Jehovah of hosts.
Jehovah will be terrible unto them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the {Or, coast-lands}isles of the nations.
Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.
And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness.
And herds shall lie down in the midst of her, {Or, all beasts of every kind}all the beasts of the nations: both the pelican and the porcupine shall lodge in the capitals thereof; their voice shall sing in the windows; {Or, drought}desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he hath laid bare the cedar-work.
This is the joyous city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none besides me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
Querverweise zu Zephanja 2,2 Zeph 2,2
Therefore wait ye for me, saith Jehovah, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my {Hebrew: judgement.}determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
That they are as stubble before the wind,And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he will make an end, yea, a {Or, speedy}terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land.
For he is our God,And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.To-day, {Or, if ye will hear his voice, Harden &c.}oh that ye would hear his voice!
Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read.
The wicked are not so,But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah arose against his people, till there was no {Hebrew: healing.}remedy.
Harden not your heart, as at {That is, strife.}Meribah,As in the day of {That is, temptation.}Massah in the wilderness;
Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.
The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but he shall rebuke {Hebrew: him.}them, and {Hebrew: he.}they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or virgin, old man or hoary-headed: he gave them all into his hand.
Notwithstanding, Jehovah turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations wherewith Manasseh had provoked him.
Behold, I have made thee to be a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way,For his wrath {Or, may}will soon be kindled. {Or, Happy}Blessed are all they that take refuge in him.
And Jehovah said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.
Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Now consider this, ye that forget God,Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver:
For I am Jehovah; I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall be performed; it shall be no more deferred: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I speak the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord Jehovah.
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the dew that passeth early away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
The anger of Jehovah shall not return, until he have {Or, done it}executed, and till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall {Or, consider}understand it perfectly.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Jehovah hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger;And he hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured the foundations thereof.
and saying, Where is the promise of his {Greek: presence.}coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and {Or, through}amidst water, by the word of God;
by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been {Or, stored with fire}stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the {Or, heavenly bodies}elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be {The most ancient manuscripts read discovered.}burned up.
Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him.
For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its {Or, beams}wings; and ye shall go forth, and gambol as calves of the stall.
Strive to enter in by the narrow door: for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not be {Or, able, when once}able.
When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us; and he shall answer and say to you, I know you not whence ye are;
then shall ye begin to say, We did eat and drink in thy presence, and thou didst teach in our streets;
and he shall say, I tell you, I know not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
There shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and yourselves cast forth without.