Bible Strands
Zephaniah 2:1
Gather yourselves, gather together, O shameful nation,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Zephaniah addresses Judah as a "shameful nation" immediately before the prophesied decree takes effect and the Day of the Lord's anger arrives. The command to assemble precedes the stated moment of divine judgment.
The words — The Hebrew הִתְקוֹשְּׁשׁוּ (hitkoshsheshu) and קוֹשׁוּ (qoshu) both derive from H7197, meaning to gather or collect. The text literally commands the nation to assemble itself before facing the coming day.
The thread — This summons parallels the call to solemn assembly in Joel 1:14, the national gathering to seek the Lord in 2 Chronicles 20:4, and the public congregation at the Water Gate in Nehemiah 8:1. The pattern shows repeated biblical commands for the people to unite in response to divine warning.
Why it lands — The text requires immediate physical and spiritual assembly before the announced judgment executes. It demands the reader treat gathering as a necessary response to the stated anger of the Lord.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;
Cross-references
- Joel 1:14 Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
- 2 Chronicles 20:4 So the people of Judah gathered to seek the LORD, and indeed, they came from all the cities of Judah to seek Him.
- Nehemiah 8:1 At that time all the people gathered together in the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.
- Nehemiah 9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.
- Esther 4:16 “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”
- Jeremiah 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
- Jeremiah 6:15 Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse,” says the LORD.
- Zechariah 11:8 And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me.
- Matthew 18:20 For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them.”
- Isaiah 1:4 Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.