Chapter 2

¹ Be ye gathered and closely joined together, O unchastened nation; ² before ye become as the flower that passes away, before the anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the wrath of the Lord come upon you. ³ Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth; do judgment, and seek justice, and answer ¹accordingly; that ye may be hid in the day of the wrath of the Lord.

⁴ For Gaza shall be utterly spoiled, and Ascalon shall be destroyed; and Azotus shall be cast forth at noon-day, and Accaron shall be rooted up. ⁵ Woe to them that dwell on the border of the sea, neighbours of the Cretans! the word of the Lord is against you, O Chanaan, land of the Philistines, and I will destroy you out of your dwelling-place. ⁶ And Crete shall be a pasture of flocks, and a fold of sheep. ⁷ And the sea cost shall be for the remnant of the house of Juda; they shall pasture upon them in the houses of Ascalon; they shall rest in the evening because of the children of Juda; for the Lord their God has visited them, and he will turn away their captivity.

⁸ I have heard the revilings of Moab, and the insults of the children of Ammon, wherewith they have reviled my people, and magnified themselves against my coasts. ⁹ Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall be as Sodoma, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrha; and Damascus shall be left as a heap of the threshing-floor, and desolate for ever: and the remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the remnant of my nations shall inherit them. ^{10 2}This is their punishment in return for their haughtiness, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the Lord Almighty. ¹¹ The Lord shall appear against them, and shall utterly destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth; and they shall worship him every one from his place, even all the islands of the nations.

¹² Ye Ethiopians also are the slain of my sword.

¹³ And he shall stretch forth his hand against the north and destroy the Assyrian, and make Nineve a dry wilderness, even as a desert. ¹⁴ And flocks, and all the wild beasts of the land, and chameleons shall feed in the midst thereof: and hedgehogs shall lodge in the ceilings thereof; and wild

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beasts shall cry in the breaches thereof, and ravens in her porches, whereas her loftiness was as as cedar.