13 He will also stretch out His hand against the north
and destroy Assyria;
He will make Nineveh a desolate ruin,(A)
dry as the desert.
14 Herds will lie down in the middle of it,
every kind of wild animal.[a]
Both the desert owl[b] and the screech owl[c]
will roost in the capitals of its pillars.
Their calls will sound[d] from the window,
but devastation[e] will be on the threshold,
for He will expose the cedar work.[f]
15 This is the self-assured(B) city
that lives in security,
that thinks to herself:
I exist, and there is no one else.
What a desolation she has become,
a place for wild animals to lie down!
Everyone who passes by her
jeers[g] and shakes his fist.

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Footnotes

  1. Zephaniah 2:14 Lit every wild animal of a nation
  2. Zephaniah 2:14 Or the pelican
  3. Zephaniah 2:14 Or the hedgehog
  4. Zephaniah 2:14 Lit sing
  5. Zephaniah 2:14 LXX, Vg read ravens
  6. Zephaniah 2:14 Hb obscure
  7. Zephaniah 2:15 Or hisses

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