1 Pull yourselves together, gather yourselves, nation that feels no shame,
2 before the decree is born and the day blows past like chaff, before the LORD's burning anger falls on you, before the day of the LORD's anger falls on you.
3 Look for the LORD, all you humble people of the land who have carried out his rulings; look for righteousness, look for humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD's anger.
4 Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left a ruin; Ashdod will be emptied out at midday, and Ekron torn up by the roots.
5 Woe to you who live along the sea, the Cherethite nation! The LORD's word is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines: I will destroy you until not one inhabitant remains.
6 The land by the sea will turn into pastures, with shepherds' wells and pens for sheep.
7 That coastland will go to the remnant of the house of Judah; there they will pasture their flocks, and at evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon; for the LORD their God will visit them and restore their fortunes.
8 The insults of Moab and the abuse from the children of Ammon have reached my ears, how they mocked my people and bragged about seizing their borders.
9 So, as I live, declares the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab will end up like Sodom and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, a place overrun with nettles, a salt pit, a wasteland for all time; what remains of my people will loot them, and the rest of my nation will take their land.
10 This is what their arrogance will earn them, for they mocked the people of the LORD of hosts and lorded it over them.
11 The LORD will be fearsome to them, for he will starve all the gods of the earth, and every coastland of the nations will worship him, each from its own place.
12 And you, Cushites, you too will be slain by my sword.
13 He will reach out his hand against the north and wipe out Assyria; he will turn Nineveh into a wasteland, parched as the desert.
14 Flocks will rest in the middle of her, every kind of wild creature; the pelican and the hedgehog will roost on the tops of her pillars; a call will sound in the window, rubble will lie on the threshold, for her cedar paneling is stripped bare.
15 This is the jubilant city that sat so secure, that said to herself, "I am, and there is none but me." How she has become a wasteland, a resting place for wild animals! All who go by her whistle in scorn and wave their hand.