1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;
2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you.
3 Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger.
4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
5 Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.
6 And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
7 And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.
8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.
9 Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.
10 This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts.
11 The Lord will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.
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 is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
<html><b>Gather yourselves together</b> Gather and assemble together as in (Exod. 5:12) “To Gather a gathering.” <b>gather together</b> your deeds. Conform your deeds to the will of Your Maker. <b>O nation that has no desire</b> That has no desire to return to the Torah.</html>
<html><b>before the decree is born</b> Before the arrival of the decree. <b>as chaff that passes… the sun</b> This is an ellipsis for, “As chaff that passes from before the wind, and as smoke that passes from before the sun.” This is the translation of עָבַר יוֹם, that passes the sun. In this manner, <i>Jonathan</i> renders: And you shall be like the chaff that the wind blows, like smoke that passes from before the sun. Another version: and like the shadow that passes, etc.; this is an expression of a shadow.</html>
<html><b>For Gaza shall be deserted</b> For, if you will do so, [as in verse 1,] I will visit retribution upon your evil neighbors; Philistia, Ammon, and Moab. The prophet proceeds to mention them [the neighbors] in [geographical] order. <b>Ashdod at noon they shall drive her out</b> Her name is Ashdod, and, at noon, when the destruction wastes, they shall drive her out, and she shall be plundered. Another explanation. At noon they shall drive her out. [Ashdod] was a place to pasture sheep, and it is hard for the sheep to go out at noontime; so Scripture says (Song 1:7): “How do you make them lie down at noon?”</html>
<html><b>the seacoast</b> the border of the sea. The expression חֶבֶל is a measure of land that they measured with a rope, i.e., those close to the sea. <b>the nation of Cherethites</b> the people liable to destruction. Who are the inhabitants of the seacoast of Canaan, the land of the Philistines? The Philistines, who dwell on the coast of the western sea, in the west of Eretz lsrael, within its boundaries. Although <i>Jonathan</i> explains this phrase homiletically as [the nation of] destruction, the nation of the Cherethites is a province of the Philistines; its name is Cherethi. So Scripture states (I Sam. 30:14) regarding Ziklag: “We made a raid upon the south of the Cherethites, etc.” <i>Jonathan</i> translates: on the south of Cherethi. Below (ibid. 30:16) it is written: “Because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.”</html>
<html><b>breakfast nooks for shepherds</b> a temporary dwelling where the shepherds eat bread in the morning. כְּרֹת is an expression related to (II Kings 6:23) “He prepared for them a lavish feast.”</html>
<html><b>And it shall be a lot for the remnant of the house of Judah</b> And that border shall be a lot for the remnant. This חֶבֶל is an expression of a lot. In this manner, <i>Jonathan</i> rendered: And it shall be a lot for the remnant of the house of Judah.</html>
<html><b>who taunted My people</b> When [the people of] Israel were being led into exile toward the land of the Chaldeans, and they were passing through Ammon and Moab, and they would see Israel weeping, sighing, and crying out, they would taunt them and say, “Why are you suffering? Aren’t you going to your father’s house? Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the river from earliest times.” (Josh. 24:2) <b>and they aggrandized themselves on their border</b> And they acted haughtily on their border.</html>
<html><b>for Moab shall be like Sodom</b> You, too, shall return to your previous dwelling. Was not your father, Lot, from Sodom? <b>a rattling of nettles</b> The sound made by the nettles growing there because there are no passersby, and they knock against each other and make sounds. <b>and a salt mine</b> a place for digging salt.</html>
<html><b>for He weakened</b> He weakened their strength. <b>and… shall prostrate himself to Him</b> when they see that their deity has deteriorated.</html>
<html><b>You, too, Cushites</b> When Israel was exiled there to the other side of the rivets of Cush.</html>
<html><b>on the north</b> Assyria is on the north, neighboring on Babylon. <b>Nineveh</b> That is the capital of Assyria.</html>
<html><b>all the beasts of the nations</b> all the cattle of the nations. <b>the pelican and the owl</b> birds. [<b>owl</b> a bird that flies at night (chouette in French), an owl.] <b>in its lintels</b> rounded knobs on the top of the roof; pomels in French. <b>Their voice shall sing in the window</b> The voice of the birds chirping in the windows. <b>desolation, in the doorpost</b> The desolation shall be discernible in the doorposts of the house. <b>for the cedarwork has been destroyed</b> For he has uprooted its cedars, as in (Ps. 137:7) “Raze it, raze it.” <i>Jonathan</i> rendered: And they demolished its roof. That is the roof of the house that is ceiled with cedar; even stone houses are ceiled with boards of wood.</html>
<html><b>and there is none besides me</b> וְאַפְסִי</html>