Bible Strands
Zephaniah 2:5
Woe to the dwellers of the seacoast, O nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy you, and no one will be left.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Zephaniah delivers this oracle immediately after detailing the ruin of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Ekron. The prophet addresses the inhabitants of the seacoast, specifically the nation of the Cherethites, as the land of Canaan and Philistia faces divine judgment.
The words — The Hebrew ה֗וֹי (Ho) functions as a formal judicial pronouncement meaning "woe to!" The phrase דְּבַר־יְהוָ֣ה (de.var-Yah.weh) explicitly grounds the decree in the authoritative "word of Yahweh" directed against the target.
The thread — This coastal judgment corresponds to Ezekiel 25:16, where Yahweh stretches out His hand against the Philistines, and Jeremiah 47:7, which records the LORD's command against Ashkelon and its coastland. The geographic scope matches the territory Joshua 13:3 defines from the Shihor to Ekron.
Why it lands — The text requires acknowledging that Yahweh's authority and destructive decree extend over foreign territories with absolute finality. Readers must confront the reality that prophetic warnings of total eradication are binding divine actions, not conditional possibilities.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 25:16 therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy the remnant along the coast.
- Jeremiah 47:7 How can it rest when the LORD has commanded it? He has appointed it against Ashkelon and the shore of its coastland.”
- Joshua 13:3 from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—that of the five Philistine rulers of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as that of the Avvites;
- Amos 3:1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:
- Judges 3:3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.
- Isaiah 14:30 Then the firstborn of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety, but I will kill your root by famine, and your remnant will be slain.
- Amos 5:1 Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you:
- Zephaniah 3:6 “I have cut off the nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have made their streets deserted with no one to pass through. Their cities are laid waste, with no man, no inhabitant.
- Zechariah 1:6 But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”
- Mark 12:12 At this, the leaders sought to arrest Jesus, for they knew that He had spoken this parable against them. But fearing the crowd, they left Him and went away.