2:1 Bunch yourselves together as if you were straw,1 you undesirable2 nation,
2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality3 and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff,4
before the Lord’s raging anger5 overtakes6 you—
before the day of the Lord’s angry judgment overtakes you!
2:3 Seek the Lord’s favor,7 all you humble people8 of the land who have obeyed his commands!9
Strive to do what is right!10 Strive to be humble!11
Maybe you will be protected12 on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.
Judgment on Surrounding Nations
2:4 Indeed,13 Gaza will be deserted14
and Ashkelon will become a heap of ruins.15
Invaders will drive away the people of Ashdod by noon,16
and Ekron will be overthrown.17
2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete,18 are as good as dead.19
The Lord has decreed your downfall,20 Canaan, land of the Philistines:
“I will destroy everyone who lives there.”21
2:6 The seacoast22 will be used as pasture lands23 by the shepherds
and as pens for their flocks.
2:7 Those who are left from the kingdom of Judah24 will take possession of it.25
By the sea26 they27 will graze,
in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening,
for the Lord their God will intervene for them28 and restore their prosperity.29
2:8 “I have heard Moab’s taunts
and the Ammonites’ insults.
They30 taunted my people
and verbally harassed those living in Judah.31
2:9 Therefore, as surely as I live,” says the Lord who leads armies, the God of Israel,
“be certain that Moab will become like Sodom
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.
They will be overrun by weeds,32
filled with salt pits,33
and permanently desolate.
Those of my people who are left34 will plunder their belongings;35
those who are left in Judah36 will take possession of their land.”
2:10 This is how they will be repaid for their arrogance,37
for they taunted and verbally harassed38 the people of the Lord who leads armies.
2:11 The Lord will terrify them,39
for40 he will weaken41 all the gods of the earth.
All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands.42
2:12 “You43 Ethiopians44 will also die by my sword.”45
2:13 The Lord46 will attack the north47
and destroy Assyria.
He will make Nineveh a heap of ruins;
it will be as barren48 as the desert.
2:14 Flocks and herds49 will lie down in the middle of it,
as well as every kind of wild animal.50
Owls51 will sleep in the tops of its support pillars;
they will hoot through the windows.52
Rubble will cover the thresholds;53
even the cedar work54 will be exposed to the elements.55
2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up56—
the city that was so secure.57
She thought to herself,58 “I am unique! No one can compare to me!”59
What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live!
Everyone who passes by her taunts her60 and shakes his fist.61
Jerusalem is Corrupt