Study Desk

For ^(C1)Gaza will be abandoned, And Ashkelon will become a desolation; The inhabitants of ^(C1)Ashdod will be driven out at noon, And ^(C1)Ekron will be uprooted.

Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, The nation of the ^(F1)(C1)Cherethites! The word of the LORD is ^(C2)against you, ^(C3)Canaan, land of the Philistines; And I will ^(C4)eliminate you So that there will be ^(C5)no inhabitant.

So the seacoast will become ^(C1)grazing places, With pastures for shepherds and folds for flocks.

And the coast will be For the ^(C1)remnant of the house of Judah, They will ^(C2)drive sheep to pasture on it. In the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down at evening; For the LORD their God will ^(C3)care for them And ^(C4)restore their fortunes.

"I have heard the ^(C1)taunting of Moab And the ^(C2)abusive speech of the sons of Ammon, With which they have taunted My people And ^(C3)boasted against their territory.

-"Therefore, as I live," declares the LORD of armies, The God of Israel, "^(C1)Moab will assuredly be like ^(C2)Sodom, And the sons of ^(C3)Ammon like ^(C4)Gomorrah— Ground overgrown with weeds and full of salt mines, And a permanent desolation. The remnant of My people will ^(C5)plunder them, And the remainder of My nation will inherit them."

This they will have in return for their ^(C1)arrogance, because they have ^(C2)taunted and boasted against the people of the LORD of armies.

The LORD will be ^(C1)terrifying to them, for He will ^(F1)starve ^(C2)all the gods of the earth; and all the ^(C3)coastlands of the nations will ^(C4)bow down to Him, everyone from his own place.

"You also, ^(C1)Ethiopians, will be slain by My sword."

And He will ^(C1)stretch out His hand against the north And eliminate ^(C2)Assyria, And He will make ^(C3)Nineveh a desolation, Parched like the wilderness.

Flocks will lie down in her midst, ^(F1)All animals that range in herds; Both the ^(F2)(C1)pelican and the hedgehog Will spend their nights in ^(F3)the tops of her pillars; ^(F4)Birds will sing in the window, Devastation will be on the threshold; For He has uncovered the cedar work.

This is the ^(C1)presumptuous city That ^(C2)dwells securely, Who says in her heart, "^(C3)I am, and there is no one besides me." How she has become a ^(C4)desolation, A resting place for animals! ^(C5)Everyone who passes by her will ^(F1)hiss And wave his hand in contempt.