Zephaniah 3:6

⁶Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

⁵Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The LORD’s word is against you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you until there is no inhabitant.

¹¹Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

⁹behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says the LORD, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. ¹⁰Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. ¹¹This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

²⁴By your servants, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field. ²⁵I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.”

²⁶“‘Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps.

¹¹Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? ¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?’”

³⁶Then the LORD’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

¹The burden of Moab. For in a night, Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing. For in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing.

²They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off. ³In their streets, they clothe themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops, everyone wails, weeping abundantly. ⁴Heshbon cries out with Elealeh. Their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud. Their souls tremble within them. ⁵My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction. ⁶For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing. ⁷Therefore they will carry away the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have stored up, over the brook of the willows. ⁸For the cry has gone around the borders of Moab, its wailing to Eglaim, and its wailing to Beer Elim. ⁹For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I will bring yet more on Dimon, a lion on those of Moab who escape, and on the remnant of the land.

¹Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees ²to deprive the needy of justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! ³What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

⁴They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

⁵Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! ⁶I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me I will give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. ⁷However, he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations. ⁸For he says, “Aren’t all of my princes kings? ⁹Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?” ¹⁰As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria, ¹¹shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

¹²Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his arrogant looks. ¹³For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers. ¹⁴My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.”

¹⁵Should an ax brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood. ¹⁶Therefore the Lord, GOD ^[+] of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. ¹⁷The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. ¹⁸He will consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints. ¹⁹The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.

²⁰It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on the LORD, ^[+] the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. ²²For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. ²³For the Lord, GOD ^[+] of Armies, will make a full end, and that determined, throughout all the earth.

²⁴Therefore the Lord, GOD of Armies, says, “My people who dwell in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did. ²⁵For yet a very little while, and the indignation against you will be accomplished, and my anger will be directed to his destruction.” ²⁶The LORD of Armies will stir up a scourge against him, as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. His rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up like he did against Egypt. ²⁷It will happen in that day that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil.

²⁸He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he stores his baggage. ²⁹They have gone over the pass. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles. Gibeah of Saul has fled. ³⁰Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth! ³¹Madmenah is a fugitive. The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. ³²This very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

³³Behold, the Lord, GOD of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. ³⁴He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.

^1[+] He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your waist! Fortify your power mightily!

²For the LORD restores the excellency of Jacob as the excellency of Israel, for the destroyers have destroyed them and ruined their vine branches.

³The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished.