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 2,12 Zeph 2,12
Ah, the land {Or, shadowing with wings}of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of {Hebrew: Cush.}Ethiopia;
that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, {Or, and}even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation {Or, dragged away and peeled}tall and smooth, to a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation {Or, meted out and trodden down Hebrew: of line, line, and of treading down.}that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers {Or, have despoiled}divide!
All ye inhabitants of the world, and ye dwellers on the earth, when an ensign is lifted up on the mountains, see ye; and when the trumpet is blown, hear ye.
For thus hath Jehovah said unto me, I will be still, and I will behold in my dwelling-place, like clear heat in sunshine, {Or, where there is}like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becometh a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and the spreading branches will he take away and cut down.
They shall be left together unto the ravenous birds of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth; and the ravenous birds shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
In that time shall a present be brought unto Jehovah of hosts from a people {Or, dragged away and peeled}tall and smooth, even from a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts, the mount Zion.
Arise, O Jehovah, {Or, Forestall}Confront him, cast him down:Deliver my soul from {Or, the wicked, who is thy sword}the wicked by thy sword;
so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
{Or, Woe to Asshur}Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is mine indignation!
And they shall be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Jehovah, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
For I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour; I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in thy stead.
O thou sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard; rest, and be still.
Go up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, that handle the shield; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow.
How canst thou be quiet, seeing Jehovah hath given {Hebrew: it.}thee a charge? Against Ashkelon, and against the sea-shore, there hath he appointed it.
For that day is a day of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
Thou art my {Or, maul}battle-axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein; and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;
and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces {Or, lieutenants}governors and deputies.
And a sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish shall be in {Hebrew: Cush.}Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt; and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.
{Hebrew: Cush.}Ethiopia, and Put, and Lud, and all the mingled people, and Cub, and the children of {Or, the land of the covenant}the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.
Thus saith Jehovah: They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: {Or, from Migdol to Syene}from the tower of Seveneh shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord Jehovah.
And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted.
And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are {Hebrew: broken.}destroyed.
In that day shall messengers go forth from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid; and there shall be anguish upon them, as in the day of Egypt; for, lo, it cometh.