Zephaniah 2 · Verse 6

Zephaniah 2:6

And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
Zephaniah 2:6, King James Version

Zephaniah 2:6 in other translations

BSBSo the seacoast will become a land of pastures, with wells for shepherds and folds for sheep.
WEBThe sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.
ASVAnd the sea-coast shall be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.
YLTAnd the sea-coast hath been habitations, Cottages for shepherds, and folds for a flock.
DARBYand the sea-coast shall be cave-dwellings for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
BBEAnd the land by the sea will be grass-land, with houses for keepers of sheep and walled places for flocks.
WebsterAnd the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.

What does Zephaniah 2:6 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
6. dwellings and cottages for shepherds--rather, "dwellings with cisterns" (that is, water-tanks dug in the earth) for shepherds. Instead of a thick population and tillage, the region shall become a pasturage for nomad shepherds' flocks. The Hebrew for "dug cisterns," Ceroth, seems a play on sounds, alluding to their name Cherethites (Zep 2:5): Their land shall become what their national name implies, a land of cisterns. Maurer translates, "Feasts for shepherds' (flocks)," that is, one wide pasturage.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 6 And the sea-coasts shall be dwellings - Newcome considers כרת keroth as a proper name, not cottages or folds. The Septuagint have Κρητη, Crete, and so has the Syriac. Abp. Secker notes, Alibi non extat כרת, et forte notat patriam των כרתים. "The word כרת is not found elsewhere, and probably it is the name of the country of the Cherethim."

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…

Read the full comment on Zephaniah 2:4-15 →

Zephaniah 2:6 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.

וְֽהָיְתָ֞הve.ha.ye.Tahand it will beH1961
חֶ֣בֶלChe.vel[the] region ofH2256
הַיָּ֗םhai.Yamthe seaH3220
נְוֹ֛תne.Votpastures ofH5116
כְּרֹ֥תke.Rotmeadows ofH3741
רֹעִ֖יםro.'ImshepherdsH7462
וְגִדְר֥וֹתve.gid.Rotand folds ofH1448
צֹֽאן\׃TzonsheepH6629

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

Cross references for Zephaniah 2:6

  • Isaiah 5:17

    Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

  • Isaiah 17:2

    The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

  • Zephaniah 2:14-15

    And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

  • Ezekiel 25:5

    And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the sea.
14,15; Isa 17:2; Eze 25:5

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

Context

  • 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.

  • Zephaniah 2:6

    And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.

  • Zephaniah 2:7

    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.

Read all of Zephaniah 2

Zephaniah 2:6 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y será la parte de la mar por moradas de cabañas de pastores, y corrales de ovejas.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et les côtes de la mer seront des excavations pour les bergers, et des enclos pour le menu bétail.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und der Landstrich am Meere wird zu Triften voll Hirtencisternen und Kleinviehhürden werden;
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Et erit funiculus maris requies pastorum, et caulæ pecorum;