Zephaniah · 15 verses
Zephaniah 2
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Nineveh’s grand domestic life is handed over to owls: creatures roost on the pillars, call from the windows, and find desolation waiting on the threshold. It is a splendidly furnished ruin, right down to the exposed cedar beams.
Before the day arrivesvv. 1–3
The shameful nation is summoned to gather before the decree catches up with it and the day blows away like chaff. The humble who practise justice are told to seek the LORD, righteousness, and humility; shelter is left as a possibility, not a promise, on the day of anger.
The coast and its neighboursvv. 4–12
The seacoast is emptied of its cities: Gaza abandoned, Ashkelon ruined, Ashdod driven out at noon, and Ekron uprooted. Canaan, called the land of the Philistines, is promised such thorough destruction that the coast becomes pasture, with wells for shepherds and folds for sheep; the remnant of Judah will lie among Ashkelon’s houses in the evening. Moab and Ammon fare no better, their taunts answered by salt pits and a wasteland, while the LORD starves the gods of the earth and the nations bow in their own places. Cush receives the briefest notice of all: the sword.
The city with no rivalvv. 13–15
The hand stretches north against Assyria, and Nineveh is made dry as a desert. Herds settle in the middle of her; owls take the pillars, their calls come through the windows, and the threshold receives desolation while the cedar beams are exposed. The city that regarded itself as incomparable becomes a resting place for beasts, with passersby hissing and shaking their fists—a remarkably public review of the premises.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Zeph 2:1Gather yourselves, gather together, O shameful nation,
Zeph 2:2before 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.
Zeph 2:3Seek 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.
Zeph 2:4For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon left in ruins. Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted.
Zeph 2:5Woe 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.”
Zeph 2:6So the seacoast will become a land of pastures, with wells for shepherds and folds for sheep.
Zeph 2:7The 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.
Zeph 2:8“I have heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who have taunted My people and threatened their borders.
Zeph 2:9Therefore, 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.”
Zeph 2:10This they shall have in return for their pride, for taunting and mocking the people of the LORD of Hosts.
Zeph 2:11The 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.
Zeph 2:12“You too, O Cushites, will be slain by My sword.”
Zeph 2:13And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert.
Zeph 2:14Herds 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.
Zeph 2:15This 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.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 247 passages were voted onto 15 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 3Amos 5:14–15Seek good, not evil, so that you may live. And the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed.
- 3Isaiah 26:20–21Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourselves a little while until the wrath has passed.
- 3Psalms 76:9when God rose up to judge, to save all the lowly of the earth. Selah
- 3Jeremiah 29:12–13Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
- 3Jonah 3:9Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”
- 3Psalms 105:4Seek out the LORD and His strength; seek His face always.
- 3Jeremiah 39:18For I will surely rescue you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in Me, you will escape with your life like a spoil of war, declares the LORD.’”
- 3Hosea 10:12Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.
- 3Proverbs 18:10The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
- 4Zechariah 9:5–7Ashkelon will see and fear; Gaza will writhe in agony, as will Ekron, for her hope will wither. There will cease to be a king in Gaza, and Ashkelon will be uninhabited.
- 3Colossians 3:2–4Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
- 2Nahum 1:6Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.
- 32 Peter 3:18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
- 9Isaiah 15:1–9This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!
- 1Joel 1:14Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
- 2Hosea 13:3Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.
Onward