BELIEVER IN CHRIST AS MY BEST FRIEND

Sunday, August 23, 2020

THE OPPRESSING CITY ZEPHANIAH 3

1Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city!

2She did not obey the voice, she did not accept instruction, she did not trust in יהוה, she did not draw near to her Elohim.

3Her rulers in her midst are roaring lions, her judges are evening wolves, they shall leave no bone until morning.

4Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men. Her priests have profaned the set-apart place, they have done violence to the Toraha.

5יהוה is righteous in her midst, He does no unrighteousness. Morning by morning He brings His right-ruling to light, it has not been lacking, yet the unrighteous one knows no shame.

6“I have cut off nations, their corner towers are in ruins. I have made their streets deserted, with no one passing by. Their cities are destroyed, without man, without inhabitant.

7“I have said, ‘Only fear Me, accept instruction.’ And her dwelling would not be cut off, all that I have appointed for her. But they rose up early, they corrupted all their deeds.

8“Therefore wait for Me,” declares יהוה, “until the day I rise up for plunder. For My judgment is to gather nations, to assemble reigns, to pour out on them My rage, all my burning wrath. For by the fire of My jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.

9“For then I shall turn unto the peoples a clean lipa, so that they all call on the Name of יהוה, to serve Him with one shoulder.

10“From beyond the rivers of Kush my worshippers, the daughter of My dispersed ones, shall bring My offering.

◄ Zephaniah 2 ►GATHER TOGETHER O NATION WITHOUT SHAME

1Gather together, gather together, O nation without shame,

2before the decree is born – the day shall pass on like chaff – before the burning wrath of יהוה comes upon you, before the day of wrath of יהוה comes upon you!

3Seek יהוה, all you meek ones of the earth, who have done His right-ruling. Seek righteousness, seek meekness, if so be that you are hidden in the day of wrath of יהוה.

4For Azzah is abandoned and Ashqelon laid waste, Ashdoḏ is driven out at noonday and Eqron is uprooted.

5Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Kerĕthites! The word of יהוה is against you, O Kena‛an, land of the Philistines, “And I shall destroy you, so that there is no inhabitant.”

6And the seacoast shall be pastures, shepherds’ meadows and enclosures for flocks.

7And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Yehuḏah. They shall feed their flocks on it, at evening they lie down in the houses of Ashqelon. For יהוה their Elohim shall visit them and turn back their captivity.

8“I have heard the reproach of Mo’aḇ, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, with which they have reproached My people, and exalted themselves against their borders.

9“Therefore, as I live,” declares יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “Mo’aḇ shall be like Seḏom, and the children of Ammon like Amorah – a possession for weeds and a pit of salt, and a waste forever, the remnant of My people plunder them, and the rest of My nation possess them.”