Zephaniah 2:14

Flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and many kinds of wild animals will lie down there. Owls and crows will sit on the columns/pillars of the destroyed buildings, and they will ◄hoot/cry out► through the windows. There will be rubble in the doorways, and the valuable cedar boards will be taken from the ruined houses.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work.

In Context

13Yahweh will punish [IDM] and destroy Assyria, that land northeast of us. He will cause its capital Nineveh to become ruined and deserted, a place that will be as dry as the desert.

15The people of Nineveh were previously happy and proud, thinking that they were very safe. They were always saying, “Our city is the greatest city; there is no city as great as ours!” But now it will become a ruins, a place where wild animals make their dens. And everyone who passes by there will hiss and scorn/ridicule that city, and shake their fists to show that they detest that city very much.

Read all of Zephaniah 2

Cross References

Isaiah 13:21Instead, animals that live in the desert will be there; jackals/wolves will live in the ruins of the houses. Owls (OR, Ostriches) will live in the ruins, and wild goats will romp/jump around there.

Isaiah 14:23I will cause Babylon to be a place where owls live, a place full of swamps; I will get rid of it completely as though [MET] I were sweeping it with a broom. That is what I, the Commander of the armies of angels, say.”

Jeremiah 22:14He said, ‘I will force my workers to build a huge beautiful palace with very large rooms and many windows. They will cover the walls with fragrant cedar panels/timber and paint them bright red.’”

Zephaniah 2:6The land of Philistia near the sea will become a pasture, a place for shepherds and their sheep pens.

Matthew Henry on Zephaniah 2:13-15

Ethiopia and Assyria Threatened. ( b. c. 612.) 12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. 13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. 14 And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. 15 This… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

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