2Before you become like the chaff which is driven away, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger reaches you.

3Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, execute justice; seek righteousness and meekness; perhaps you may find refuge in the day of the LORD'S anger.

4For Gaza shall be deserted and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall carry captive Ashdod's people at the noon day, and Ekron shall be uprooted.

5Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast and the people of Crete! 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 become pastures for sheep, and Crete a pasture for flocks of sheep.

7And the seacoast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon; in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down in the evening; for the LORD their God shall visit them and bring back their captivity.

8I have heard the reproach of Moab and the blasphemies of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people and magnified themselves against their border.

9Therefore as I live, says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab shall become as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, for their plantations have been destroyed and their counsellors lost, and they have become a desolation for ever; the remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the survivors of my people shall possess them.

10This disaster shall they have for their pride because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts, against Israel; 11For the LORD has declared to them that he shall destroy all the kings of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the seas.

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

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

14And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all kinds of beasts of the nations; both pelicans and the owls shall lodge in her houses; and wild beasts shall roar in the midst of her, and the sword shall be in her gates; for her foundations are laid bare.

15This is the mighty city that dwelt in security, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none like me; how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Everyone that passes by her shall be amazed and hiss, and shake his hand, saying,