2 Gather together, yes, gather yourselves,
O nation that feels no shame.
2 Before the decree takes effect,
Before the day passes by like chaff,
Before the burning anger of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} comes upon you,
Before the day of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s anger comes upon you,
3 Seek Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}, all you meek ones of the earth,
Who observe his righteous decrees.
Seek righteousness, seek meekness.
Probably you will be concealed on the day of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s anger.
4 For Gazʹa will be an abandoned city;
And Ashʹke·lon will be desolated.
Ashʹdod will be driven away in broad daylight,
And Ekʹron will be uprooted.
5 “Woe to those who inhabit the seacoast, the nation of Cherʹe·thites!
The word of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} is against you.
O Caʹnaan, land of the Phi·lisʹtines, I will destroy you,
So that there will be no inhabitant left.
6 And the seacoast will become pasture grounds,
With wells for shepherds and stone pens for sheep.
7 It will become a region for the remaining ones of the house of Judah;
There they will feed.
In the houses of Ashʹke·lon they will lie down in the evening.
For Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} their Al {pre. Ahl} will turn his attention to them,
And he will gather back their captives.”
8 “I have heard the reproach by Moʹab and the insults of the Amʹmon·ites,
Who have taunted my people and made boasts against their territory.
9 Therefore as surely as I am alive,” declares Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} of armies, the Al {pre. Ahl} of Isra'Al,
“Moʹab will become just like Sodʹom,
And the Amʹmon·ites like Go·morʹrah,
A place of nettles, a salt pit, and a permanent wasteland.
The remaining ones of my people will plunder them,
And the remnant of my nation will dispossess them.
10 This is what they will have instead of their pride,
Because they taunted and exalted themselves against the people of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} of armies.
11 Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} will be awe-inspiring against them;
For he will bring to nothing all the gods of the earth,
And all the islands of the nations will bow down to him,
Each one from its place.
12 You E·thi·oʹpi·ans will also be slain by my sword.
13 He will stretch out his hand toward the north and destroy As·syrʹi·a,
And he will make Ninʹe·veh desolate, as dry as a desert.
14 Herds will lie down within her, all sorts of wild animals.
Both pelican and porcupine will spend the night among her pillar capitals.
A voice will sing in the window.
There will be devastation at the threshold;
For he will expose the cedar panels.
15 This is the proud city that was sitting in security,
That was saying in her heart, ‘I am the one, and there is nobody else.’
How she has become an object of horror,
A place for the wild animals to lie down!
Everyone passing by her will whistle and shake his fist.”