Reading for February 13th

 Read Zephaniah 2.4-15. In 2.4-15: The nations are judged. The lengthy speech describing Judah's judgment is followed by a collection of shorter speeches describing judgment on four of Judah's neighbors: Philistia (vv. 4-7), Moab and Ammon (vv. 8-11), Ethiopia (v. 12) and Assyria (vv. 13-15). Inverse 4 Gaze, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron are major cities of Philistia, Judah's neighbor on the Mediterranean coast. In verse 5: Cherethites is a synonym for, 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 by God in a fierce firestorm (Gen 19.12-29) and there fore represent divine judgment. In verse 13: Assyria with its capital in Nineveh, is an ancient Near Easter 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 mirror those in the speeches of Nahum. Comments or Questions..