Bible Strands
Zephaniah 2:7
The coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; there they will find pasture. They will lie down in the evening among the houses of Ashkelon, for the LORD their God will attend to them and restore their captives.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Zephaniah speaks an oracle against the Philistines, declaring that the seacoast around Ashkelon will be transferred to the remnant of Judah. This sits between the judgment on the Philistines (v. 6) and the taunts of Moab and Ammon (v. 8).
The words — חֶבֶל (chevel, "region, district") names the coast not as abstract land but as a bounded tract being reassigned. שְׁאֵרִית (she'arit, "remnant") marks the recipients as those who survived judgment, not a full nation.
The thread — The motif of God's attention producing restoration recurs in Exodus 4:31, Zephaniah 3:20, and Ezekiel 39:25, where the same divine act reverses exile.
Why it lands — The verse pairs a concrete territorial gain (grazing in Ashkelon's houses) with the claim that God's attention is the mechanism. It asks the reader to see judgment on enemies and restoration of the remnant as one event, not two.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Exodus 4:31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.
- Zephaniah 3:20 At that time I will bring you in; yes, at that time I will gather you. For I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your captives before your very eyes,” says the LORD.
- Ezekiel 39:25 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Now I will restore Jacob from captivity and will have compassion on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for My holy name.
- Micah 5:3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned until she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of His brothers will return to the children of Israel.
- Luke 1:68 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people.
- Jeremiah 29:14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and places to which I have banished you, declares the LORD. I will restore you to the place from which I sent you into exile.”
- Jeremiah 33:7 I will restore Judah and Israel from captivity and will rebuild them as in former times.
- Amos 9:14 I will restore My people Israel from captivity; they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
- Obadiah 1:19 Those from the Negev will possess the mountains of Esau; those from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
- Micah 2:12 I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will collect the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the midst of its pasture—a noisy throng.