Bible Strands
Zephaniah 2:9
Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of My people will plunder them; the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Yahweh, identified as the LORD of Hosts and God of Israel, pronounces judgment on Moab and the Ammonites following their taunts and border threats against His people. The oracle is delivered in the wake of their recorded pride and mockery of the divine community.
The words — The oath phrase חַי־אָנִי (chai- ani) literally means "by the life of me," functioning as a divine guarantee. It is coupled with נְאֻם יְהוָה (ne'um Yahweh), meaning "the utterance of Yahweh," to mark the statement as authoritative divine speech.
The thread — The description of a salted, perpetual wasteland directly parallels Deuteronomy 29:23, while the subsequent plundering by God's remnant aligns with Isaiah 11:14 and the specific oracle against Moab in Isaiah 15:1.
Why it lands — The text states that Moab and Ammon will become permanent deserts like Sodom and Gomorrah as direct retribution for their pride. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine judgment is fixed and that God's surviving people will actively dispossess the judged nations.
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
Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 15:1 This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!
- Isaiah 11:14 They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west; together they will plunder the sons of the east. They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them.
- Deuteronomy 29:23 All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
- Isaiah 25:10 For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.
- Isaiah 49:18 Lift up your eyes and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “you will wear them all as jewelry and put them on like a bride.
- Jeremiah 48:1 Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be devastated. Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced; the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.
- Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
- Isaiah 13:19 And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Isaiah 34:9 Edom’s streams will be turned to tar, and her soil to sulfur; her land will become a blazing pitch.
- Jeremiah 46:18 As surely as I live, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts, there will come one who is like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.