Zephaniah 2 · Verse 4

Zephaniah 2:4

For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.

Zephaniah 2:4, King James Version

Zephaniah 2:4 in other translations

BSB	For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon left in ruins. Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted.
WEB	For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up.
ASV	For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
YLT	For Gaza is forsaken, And Ashkelon is for a desolation, Ashdod! at noon they do cast her forth, And Ekron is rooted up.
DARBY	For Gazah shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon shall be a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
BBE	For Gaza will be given up and Ashkelon will become waste: they will send Ashdod out in the middle of the day, and Ekron will be uprooted.
Webster	For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.

What does Zephaniah 2:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

4. For--He makes the punishment awaiting the neighboring states an argument why the ungodly should repent (Zep 2:1) and the godly persevere, namely, that so they may escape from the general calamity. Gaza shall be forsaken--In the Hebrew there is a play of similar sounds, Gaza Gazubah; Gaza shall be forsaken, as its name implies. So the Hebrew of the next clause, Ekron teeakeer. at the noonday--when on account of the heat Orientals usually sleep, and military operations are suspended (2Sa 4:5). Hence an attack at noon implies one sudden and unexpected (Jr 6:4, 5; 15:8). Ekron--Four cities of the Philistines are mentioned, whereas five was the normal number of their leading cities. Gath is omitted, being at this time under the Jews' dominion. David had subjugated it (1Ch 18:1). Under Joram the Philistines almost regained it (2Ch 21:16), but Uzziah (2Ch 26:6) and Hezekiah (2Ki 18:8) having conquered them, it remained under the Jews. Am 1:6; Zec 9:5, 6; Jr 25:20, similarly mention only four cities of the Philistines.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 4 Gaza shall be forsaken - This prophecy is against the Philistines. They had been greatly harassed by the kings of Egypt; but were completely ruined by Nebuchadnezzar, who took all Phoenicia from the Egyptians; and about the time of his taking Tyre, devastated all the seignories of the Philistines. This ruin we have seen foretold by the other prophets, and have already remarked its exact fulfillment.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Zephaniah 2:4-15

Those are really in a woful condition who have the word of the Lord against them, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. God will restore his people to their rights, though long kept from them. It has been the common lot of God's people, in all ages, to be reproached and reviled. God shall be worshipped, not only by all Israel, and the strangers who join them, but by the heathen. Remote nations must be reckoned with for the wrongs done to God's people. The sufferings of the insolent and haughty in prosperity, are unpitied and unlamented. But all the desolations of flourishing nations will make way for the overturning Satan's kingdom. Let us improve our advantages, and expect the performance of every promise, praying that our Father's name may be hallowed every where, over all the earth.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Zephaniah 2:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּ֤יkiforH3588

עַזָּה֙'a.ZahGazaH5804

עֲזוּבָ֣ה'a.zu.VahabandonedH5800

תִֽהְיֶ֔הtih.Yehit will beH1961

וְאַשְׁקְל֖וֹןve.'ash.ke.Lonand AshkelonH831

לִשְׁמָמָ֑הlish.ma.Mah[will become] <into> a desolationH8077

אַשְׁדּ֗וֹד'ash.DodAshdodH795

בַּֽצָּהֳרַ֙יִם֙ba.tzo.ho.Ra.yimat the noontide<s>H6672

יְגָ֣רְשׁ֔וּהָye.Ga.re.Shu.hapeople will drive out itH1644

וְעֶקְר֖וֹןve.'ek.Ronand EkronH6138

תֵּעָקֵֽר\׃\ \סte.'a.Kerit will be plucked upH6131

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Zephaniah 2:4

Zechariah 9:5-7
Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.
Amos 1:6-8
Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof: And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.
Jeremiah 47:1-7
The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza. Thus saith the Lord; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl. At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands; Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the Lord will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor. …
Jeremiah 25:20
And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
Jeremiah 6:4
Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
Jeremiah 15:8
Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
Ezekiel 25:15-17
Thus saith the Lord God; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred; Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.
Psalms 91:6
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Gaza.
Jer 25:20; 47:1-7; Eze 25:15-17; Am 1:6-8; Zec 9:5-7
at.
Ps 91:6; Jer 6:4; 15:8

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Zephaniah 2:3
Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.
Zephaniah 2:4
For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
Zephaniah 2:5
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.

Read all of Zephaniah 2

Zephaniah 2:4 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Porque Gaza será desamparada, y Ascalón asolada: saquearán á Asdod en el medio día, y Ecrón será desarraigada.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Car Gaza sera abandonnée, et Askalon sera une désolation; Asdod, on la chassera en plein midi, et Ékron sera déracinée.
German Elberfelder 1871	Denn Gasa wird verlassen und Askelon eine Wüste sein; Asdod: am hellen Mittag wird man es vertreiben, und Ekron wird entwurzelt werden.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Quia Gaza destructa erit, et Ascalon in desertum: Azotum in meridie ejicient, et Accaron eradicabitur.