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Read: Zeph.2:4-15
4
For Gaza
shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon
[= "the fire of shame" or
"I shall be weighed"]
a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod
[="powerfull"]
at the noon day, and Ekron
[=unrooted]
shall be rooted up.
5
Woe unto the
inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites
[= proto-philistines,
coming from Krete]!
the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan
[=low land],
the land of the Philistines
[=immigrant],
I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.
6
And the sea
coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and
folds for flocks.
7
And the
coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they
shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they
lie down in the evening: for the LORD their God shall visit
them, and turn away their captivity.
[for the LORD: or, when,
etc] 8
I
have heard the reproach of Moab, and the reviling of the
children of Ammon
[="from a tribe"; a
people living in Trans-Jordan, descendants from Lot by
Ben-ammi],
whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified
themselves against their border.
9
Therefore as I
live, says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab
[ ="from his father"
- son of Lot and his oldest daughter; the people descending
from the son of Lot; the country where these descendants of
the son of Lot lived]
shall
be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the
breeding of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual
desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and
the remnant of my people shall possess them.
10
This shall
they have for their pride, because they have reproached and
magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of
hosts.
11
The LORD
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 isles of the heathen.
[famish: Heb. make lean]
12 Ye
Ethiopians
[descendants of Cusch and
grandson of Noah by Cham and member of that people]
also, ye shall be slain by my sword.
13
And he will
stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria
[="a step"; the second
son of Sem, name giving fore-father of the Assyrians; the
people of Assyria; the nation Assyria; the country Assyria
or Assur];
and will make Nineveh
[="place of Ninus";
Capital of the old kingdom of Assyria, located at the east
banks of the river Tigris, 880 km from the mouth of the
river and 400 km north of Babylon]
a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.
14
And flocks
shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the
nations: both the cormorant
[=pelican]
and the bittern
[=nightowl]
shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall
sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds:
for he shall uncover the cedar work.
[cormorant: or, pelican -
upper...: or, knops, or, chapiters - for...: or, when he
hath uncovered]
15
This is the
rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her
heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become
a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one
that passes by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
Those are
really in a woeful condition who have the word of the Lord
against them, for no word of his shall fall to the ground.
God will
restore his people to their rights, though long kept from them.
It has been the common lot of God's people, in all ages, to be
reproached and reviled.
God shall be
worshipped, not only by all Israel, and the strangers who join
them, but by the heathen. Remote nations must be reckoned with
for the wrongs done to God's people.
The sufferings
of the insolent and haughty in prosperity, are un-pitied and
unlamented. But all the desolations of flourishing nations will
make way for the overturning Satan's kingdom. Let us improve our
advantages, and expect the performance of every promise, praying
that our Father's name may be hallowed every where, over all the
earth.
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