Zephaniah 2:13-15
Living Bible
13 and so will the lands of the north; he will destroy Assyria and make its great capital Nineveh a desolate wasteland like a wilderness. 14 That once proud city will become a pastureland for sheep. All sorts of wild animals will have their homes in her. Hedgehogs will burrow there; the vultures and the owls will live among the ruins of her palaces, hooting from the gaping windows; the ravens will croak from her doors. All her cedar paneling will lie open to the wind and weather.
15 This is the fate of that vast, prosperous city that lived in such security, that said to herself, “In all the world there is no city as great as I.” But now—see how she has become a place of utter ruins, a place for animals to live! Everyone passing that way will mock or shake his head in disbelief.[a]
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- Zephaniah 2:15 will mock or shake his head in disbelief. “Nothing seemed more improbable than that the capital of so vast an empire, a city of sixty miles around with walls 100 feet high and so thick that three chariots could go abreast on them, and with 1500 towers, should be so totally destroyed that its site is with difficulty discovered.”—Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary.
Zephaniah 2:13-15
New International Version
Assyria
13 He will stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria,(A)
leaving Nineveh(B) utterly desolate
and dry as the desert.(C)
14 Flocks and herds(D) will lie down there,
creatures of every kind.
The desert owl(E) and the screech owl(F)
will roost on her columns.
Their hooting will echo through the windows,
rubble will fill the doorways,
the beams of cedar will be exposed.
15 This is the city of revelry(G)
that lived in safety.(H)
She said to herself,
“I am the one! And there is none besides me.”(I)
What a ruin she has become,
a lair for wild beasts!(J)
All who pass by her scoff(K)
and shake their fists.(L)
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