Seek the LORD
Zephaniah 2
15 verses≈ 3 minBSB
Images are artistic interpretations.
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Where we are
- 1The Day of the LORDIn Josiah’s days (640–609 BC): the great day is near
- 2:1–3Seek the LORDBefore the day passes like chaffChapter 2
- 2:4–15The nations judgedPhilistia, Moab and Ammon, Cush, Assyria
- 3:1–8Woe to JerusalemThe city that accepted no correction
- 3:9–20He will rejoice over youPure lips, a humble remnant, and a song
A Call to Repentance
Gather yourselves, gather together,
O shameful nation,
Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture
before the decree takes effect
and the day passes like chaff,
before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you,
before the Day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you.
Question
Quick question
Read verse 3 again before you answer.
Who does Zephaniah call to seek the LORD?
Judgment on the Philistines
Stylised map · locations approximate
On the map
On every side
Zephaniah looks west to the Philistine coast, east to Moab and Ammon, south to Cush and north to Assyria. Every nation answers to the LORD.
Zephaniah
For Gaza will be abandoned,
and Ashkelon left in ruins.
Ashdod will be driven out at noon,
and Ekron will be uprooted.
Woe to the dwellers of the seacoast,
O nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the LORD is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines:
“I will destroy you,
and no one will be left.”
The coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah;
there they will find pasture.
They will lie down in the evening
among the houses of Ashkelon,
for the LORD their God will attend to them
and restore their captives.
Judgment on Moab and Ammon
“I have heard the reproach of Moab
and the insults of the Ammonites,
who have taunted My people
and threatened their borders.
God
Therefore, as surely as I live,”
declares the LORD of Hosts,
the God of Israel,
“surely Moab will be like Sodom
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—
a place of weeds and salt pits,
a perpetual wasteland.
The remnant of My people will plunder them;
the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”
This they shall have in return for their pride,
for taunting and mocking the people
of the LORD of Hosts.
The LORD will be terrifying to them when He starves all the gods of the earth. Then the nations of every shore will bow in worship to Him, each in its own place.
Judgment on Cush and Assyria
“You too, O Cushites,
will be slain by My sword.”
And He will stretch out His hand against the north
and destroy Assyria;
He will make Nineveh a desolation,
as dry as a desert.
Zephaniah
Herds will lie down in her midst,
creatures of every kind.
Both the desert owl and screech owl
will roost atop her pillars.
Their calls will sound from the window,
but desolation will lie on the threshold,
for He will expose the beams of cedar.
This carefree city
that dwells securely,
that thinks to herself:
“I am it, and there is none besides me,”
what a ruin she has become,
a resting place for beasts.
Everyone who passes by her
hisses and shakes his fist.
0:16
Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain
Pray
Pray
LORD of Hosts, every nation answers to You, and so do I. Make me humble, keep me seeking You, and hide me on the day of Your anger. Amen.
You’ve experienced
Zephaniah 2
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A verse to carry with you
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.
Zephaniah 2:3
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