1Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;

2Before the decree comes forth, before the day passes like the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger comes upon you.

3Seek you the LORD, all you meek of the earth, who have kept his commands; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be you shall be hidden in the day of the LORD'S anger.

Judgment on Nations

4For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon shall be a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.

5Woe unto the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy you, that there shall be no inhabitant.

6And the seacoast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.

7And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed there: 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.

8I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, by which they have reproached my people, and made boasts against their borders.

9Therefore as I live, says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of weeds, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall plunder them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.

10This shall they have because of their pride, because they have reproached and boasted themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts.

11The 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 coasts of the nations.

12You Ethiopians also, you shall be slain by my sword.

13And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.

14And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the vulture and the hedgehog shall lodge in her capitals; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall lay bare her cedar work.

15This is the rejoicing city that dwelt securely, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how has she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! everyone that passes by her shall hiss, and shake his fist.