Reading for November 6th

Read Zephaniah 2.4-15 The nations are judged.
The lengthy speech describing Judah's judgment is followed b a collection of shorter speeches describing judgment on four of Judah's neighbors: Phillistia (vv. 4-7), Moab and Ammon (vv. 8-11), Ethiopia (v. 12), and Assyria (vv.13-15).
In verse 4 Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Ekron are major cities of Phillistia,
Judah's neighbor on the Mediteranean coast.
In verses 5 Cherethites is a synonym for, or a subgroup of, the Philistines,
who are associated with Crete, part of the larger Aegean area from which the Philistines came.
In verse 8 Moab and Ammon are Judah's neighbors east of the Jordan River.
In verse 9 Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed b God in a fierce firestorm (Gen 19.12-29)
and therefore represent divine judgment.
In verse 13 Assyria, with its capital in Nineveh, is an ancient Near Eastern superpower
that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BCE and dominated the southern
kingdom of Judah for a century before Zephaniah's career.
In verse 15 the exultant city is Nineveh.
The images of its fall here mirror those in the speeches of Nahum.
Comments or Questions...