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A Call to Turn from Sin

¹ Gather together. Gather together, O nation without shame, ² before you are driven away like the waste from the grain. Gather together before the burning anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger. ³ Look for the Lord, all you people of the earth who are not proud, and who have obeyed His Laws. Look for what is right and good. Have no pride. You may be kept safe on the day of the Lord's anger.

The Nations around Israel Are Judged

⁴ For Gaza will be left empty. Ashkelon will be laid waste. Ashdod's people will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be pulled up by the roots. ⁵ It is bad for the people who live by the sea, the nation of the Cherethites! The Word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. I will destroy you so that no people will be left living in you. ⁶ The land by the sea will be open fields, a place for shepherds and fences for sheep. ⁷ The land by the sea will be for those left of the people of Judah. They will let their flocks eat there. In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. For the Lord their God will care for them and return their riches.

⁸ "I have heard how Moab has made fun of My people and the sons of Ammon have spoken strong words against them. They have spoken in pride against My people's land. ⁹ So as I live," says the Lord of All, the God of Israel, "Moab will be like Sodom, and the sons of Ammon will be like Gomorrah, a land taken over by thistles and salt, a waste land forever. Those left of My people will rob them. Those left of My nation will take their land." ¹⁰ This will happen to them because of their pride, because they have made fun of the people of the Lord of All. ¹¹ They will be filled with fear because of the Lord. He will destroy all the gods of the earth. All the nations beside the sea will worship Him, every one in his own land. ¹² "You also, O Ethiopians, will be killed by My sword." ¹³ He will put out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria. And He will destroy Nineveh, making it a waste land like the desert. ¹⁴ Flocks will lie down in it, all the animals of the field. The pelican and the hedgehog will live in the tops of its pillars. Birds will sing in the window. And the doorways will be broken down. The pieces of cedar will not be covered. ¹⁵ This is the city that is full of joy and takes it easy and thinks it is safe. It says to itself, "I am, and there is no one else." How it has become a waste, a resting place for animals! All who pass by will make fun of her and laugh at her shaking their hands.