Zephaniah 2

Before the day breaks, Zephaniah issues a gracious appeal: “Gather together... seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD.” He then turns to the nations that surround Judah, pronouncing judgment on Philistia to the west (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron), on Moab and Ammon to the east for their taunts against God’s people, on Cush (Ethiopia) to the south, and on Assyria to the north, whose proud capital Nineveh — the city that said, “I am, and there is no one else” — will become a desolate ruin where wild animals lodge.