Zephaniah 2:6

Zephaniah 2:6 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
• New International Version (NIV)The land by the sea will become pastures having wells for shepherds and pens for flocks.
• English Standard Version (ESV)And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures, with meadows for shepherds and folds for flocks.
• New King James Version (NKJV)The seacoast shall be pastures, With shelters for shepherds and folds for flocks.

Context of Zephaniah 2:6

4Indeed, Gaza will be deserted and Ashkelon will become a heap of ruins. Invaders will drive away the people of Ashdod by noon, and Ekron will be overthrown. 5Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, are as good as dead. The Lord has decreed your downfall, Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy everyone who lives there!” The seacoast will be used as pasture lands by the shepherds and as pens for their flocks. 7Those who are left from the kingdom of Judah will take possession of it. By the sea they will graze, in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening, for the Lord their God will intervene for them and restore their prosperity. 8“I have heard Moab’s taunts and the Ammonites’ insults. They taunted my people and verbally harassed those living in Judah.

Zephaniah 2:6 word by word

וְֽהָיְתָ֞ה חֶ֣בֶל הַיָּ֗ם נְוֹ֛ת כְּרֹ֥ת רֹעִ֖ים וְגִדְר֥וֹת צֹֽאן׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And the seaיָםyâm · seaH3220
• coastחֶ֫בֶלchebel chêbel · cordH2256
• shall be dwellingsנָוֶהnâveh nâvâh · pastureH5116
• cottagesכָּרָהkârâh · hollowH3741
• for shepherdsרָעָהrâ‛âh · to pastureH7462
• and foldsגְּדֵרָהgedêrâh · wallH1448
• for flocksצֹאןtsô'n tse'ôn · flockH6629

Cross-references for Zephaniah 2:6

• Zephaniah 2:14Flocks and herds will lie down in the middle of it, as well as every kind of wild animal. Owls will sleep in the tops of its support pillars; they will hoot through the windows. Rubble will cover the thresholds; even the cedar work will be exposed to the elements.
• Isaiah 17:2The cities of Aroer are abandoned. They will be used for herds, which will lie down there in peace.
• Ezekiel 25:5I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Commentaries on Zephaniah 2:6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6And the sea-coasts shall be dwellings - Newcome considers כרת keroth as a proper name, not cottages or folds. The Septuagint have , Crete, and so has the Syriac. Abp. Secker notes, Alibi non extat כרת , et forte notat patriam כרתים . "The word כרת is not found elsewhere, and probably it is the name of the country of the Cherethim."Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6The seacoast shall be dwellings and cottages - oliterally, cuttings or diggings. This is the central meaning of the word; the place of the Cherethites (the cutters off) shall be “cheroth” of shepherds, places which they dug up that their flocks might be enclosed therein. The tracts once full of fighting men, the scourge of Judah, should be so desolate of its former people, as to become a sheep-walk. Men of peace should take the place of its warriors. So…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-15Verses 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…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6pastures … wells for shepherds and folds for sheep: The destruction of cities and their return to nature is a severe punishment from God. See also Isaiah 7:23–25; 13:19–21; 32:9–15; Ezekiel 35:9.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. 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…Read the comment

Topics related to Zephaniah 2:6

• Philistines

In the dictionaries

• the sea, the Great Sea, the western sea
• Cottage
• Fold
• Nahum, Book of
• Prophecy
• Thereupon
• Zephaniah, Book of

Commentaries on Zephaniah 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings