Chapter 1 described a future dark day of judgment. Before that Day, Judah and her neighbors are called to repent. That message continues into the first three verses of chapter 2.
Zephaniah 2:1-3, Judah to seek God
Gather together, gather yourselves together,
you shameful nation,
before the decree takes effect
and that day passes like windblown chaff,
before the LORD’s fierce anger comes upon you,
before the day of the LORD’s wrath comes upon you.
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
you who do what he commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you will be sheltered
on the day of the LORD’s anger.
The message of Chapter 1 ends with a call for Judah to turn to God and seek him in humility. Perhaps the people of Judah will be sheltered from His justice.
The repetitive "gather together" provides an emphasis; the first stich of chapter 2, translated into five English words by the NIV, is merely two words in Hebrew, each derivations of qashash. Further emphasis occurs in verse 3 with repetition of "Seek!"
After verse 3, above, there is a break in the book of Zephaniah. The prophet now looks at the countries around Judah, touching on all four points of the compass, west, east, south, north. Although the following passage list particular neighbors of Judah, it is likely that these nations also represent all the nations of the earth, in all directions.
Zephaniah 2:4-7, Philistia must repent
Gaza will be abandoned
and Ashkelon left in ruins.
At midday Ashdod will be emptied
and Ekron uprooted.
Woe to you who live by the sea, you Kerethite people;
the word of the LORD is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines.
He says, “I will destroy you, and none will be left.”
The land by the sea will become pastures
having wells for shepherds
and pens for flocks.
That land will belong
to the remnant of the people of Judah;
there they will find pasture.
In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon.
The LORD their God will care for them; he will restore their fortunes.
The land of the Philistines, west of Judah along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, will also face judgment. In 1 Samuel 6:17, Philistia is represented by five towns: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. Here Gath is left out. Most likely Philistia represents the western nations, one of the four points of the compass and the four towns described here represent, in a similar manner, the land of the Philistines, moving from north to south (Motyer, p. 931.)
Eventually the land to the west is given (says Zephaniah) to the remnant of Judah. The destruction of all nations (beginning in 1:2) is modified by a hint of a surviving remnant. That hint will bloom into an explicit promise in the last portion of this book.
Zephaniah 2:8-11, Moab and Ammon
“I have heard the insults of Moab
and the taunts of the Ammonites,
who insulted my people
and made threats against their land.
Therefore, as surely as I live,”
declares the LORD Almighty,
the God of Israel,
“surely Moab will become like Sodom,
the Ammonites like Gomorrah—
a place of weeds and salt pits,
a wasteland forever.
The remnant of my people will plunder them;
the survivors of my nation will inherit their land.”
This is what they will get in return for their pride,
for insulting and mocking
the people of the LORD Almighty.
The LORD will be awesome to them
when he destroys all the gods of the earth.
Distant nations will bow down to him,
all of them in their own lands.
Moab and Ammon, to the east of Judah, will also be judged. The ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, probably to the southeast of the Dead Sea, represented past judgments by YHWH. The judgments on Moab and Ammon are then linked to these ancient towns.
As Motyer points out (p. 947), once again there is the "tease" of a future hope for Israel, in the mention (verse 11) of a remnant of Israel, of survivors from the impending judgment. Along with those survivors will come other (Gentile?) nations that will bow down to YHWH.
Zephaniah 2:12, Cush
“You Cushites, too, will be slain by my sword.”
The people of Cush were probably from Nubia, in Egypt's upper Nile region. They will also be judged and destroyed. They represent the people south of Judah.
Zephaniah 2:13-15, Assyria
He will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria,
leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the desert.
Flocks and herds will lie down there, creatures of every kind.
The desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns.
Their hooting will echo through the windows,
rubble will fill the doorways,
the beams of cedar will be exposed.
This is the city of revelry that lived in safety.
She said to herself,
“I am the one! And there is none besides me.”
What a ruin she has become,
a lair for wild beasts!
All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists.
Assyria and its capital, Nineveh, will also be destroyed. Assyria represents the threats to the north of Judah.
Nineveh was a powerful city for much of the seventh century BC, possibly the largest in the world for a time. Jonah preached against it at one point. But in 612 BC it was sacked by Babylonians, aided by Medes and Scythians. The picture in verse 14 would be an accurate description of Nineveh after that sack, with flocks lying down in the old city streets and owls roosting in the buildings. (As with many OT Hebrew terms for animals, the translations "desert owl" and "screech owl" are conjectured.)
Motyer calls the second part of Zephaniah (that is, 2:4-15), "Poem of the Nations."
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