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PARALLEL BIBLE - Zephaniah 2:4


CHAPTERS: Zephaniah 1, 2, 3     

VERSES: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

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King James Bible - 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.

World English Bible

For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up.

Douay-Rheims - Zephaniah 2:4

For Gaza shall be destroyed, and Ascalon shall be a desert, they shall cast out Azotus at noonday, and Accaron shall be rooted up.

Webster's Bible Translation

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

Original Hebrew

כי
3588 עזה 5804 עזובה 5800 תהיה 1961 ואשׁקלון 831 לשׁממה 8077 אשׁדוד 795 בצהרים 6672 יגרשׁוה 1644 ועקרון 6138 תעקר׃ 6131

Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge

VERSE (4) -
Jer 25:20; 47:1-7 Eze 25:15-17 Am 1:6-8 Zec 9:5-7

SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:4

¶ Porque Gaza será desamparada, y Ascalón asolada; saquearán a Asdod en el medio día, y Ecrón será desarraigada.

Clarke's Bible Commentary - Zephaniah 2:4

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.

John Gill's Bible Commentary

Ver. 4. For
Gaza shall be forsaken , etc.] Therefore seek the Lord; and not to the Philistines, since they would be destroyed, to whom Gaza, and the other cities later mentioned, belonged; so Aben Ezra connects the words, suggesting that it would be in vain to flee thither for shelter, or seek for refuge there; though others think that this and what follows is subjoined, either to assure the Jews of their certain ruin, since this would be the case of the nations about them; or to alleviate their calamity, seeing their enemies would have no occasion to insult them, and triumph over them, they being, or quickly would be, in the like circumstances. Gaza was one of the five lordships of the Philistines; a strong and fortified place, as its name signifies; but should be demolished, stripped of its fortifications, and forsaken by its inhabitants. It was smitten by Pharaoh king of Egypt; and was laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar, ( Jeremiah 47:1,4,5) and afterwards taken by Alexander the great; and, having gone through various changes, was in the times of the apostles called Gaza the desert, ( Acts 8:26).

There is a beautiful play on words in the words, not to be expressed in an English translation f32 . According to Strabo’s account f33 , the ancient city was about a mile from the haven, for which (he says) it was formerly very illustrious; but was demolished by Alexander, and remained a desert. And so Jerom says, in his time, the place where the ancient city stood scarce afforded any traces of the foundations of it; for that which now is seen (adds he) was built in another place, instead of that which was destroyed: and which, he observes, accounts for the fulfilment of this prophecy: and so Monsieur Thevenot says, the city of Gaza is about two miles from the sea; and was anciently very illustrious, as may be seen by its ruins; and yet, even this must be understood of new Gaza; so a Greek writer f36 , of an uncertain age, observes this distinction; and speaks of this and the following places exactly in the order in which they are here, “after Rhinocorura lies new Gaza, which is the city itself; then “Gaza the desert” (the place here prophesied of); then the city Askelon; after that Azotus (or Ashdod); then the city Accaron” (or Ekron): and Ashkelon a desolation ; this was another lordship belonging to the Philistines, that suffered at the same time as Gaza did by Nebuchadnezzar, ( Jeremiah 47:5,7). This place was ten miles from Gaza, as Mr. Sandys f37 says, and who adds, and now of no note; and Strabo speaks of it in his time as a small city; indeed new Ashkelon is said by Benjamin of Tudela f39 to be a very large and beautiful city; but then he distinguishes it from old Ashkelon, here prophesied of; and which (he says) is four “parsoe”, or sixteen miles, from the former, and now lies waste and desolate: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day , that is, the Chaldeans shall drive out the inhabitants of Ashdod, another of the principalities of the Philistines; the same with Azotus, ( Acts 8:40) “at noon day”, openly and publicly, and with great ease; they shall have no occasion to use any secret stratagems, or to make night work of it; and which would be very incommodious and distressing to the inhabitants, to be turned out at noon day, and be obliged to travel in the heat of the sun, which in those eastern countries at noon day beats very strong. This place was distant from old Ashkelon four “parsae”, or twenty four miles, as Benjamin Tudelensis f40 affirms; and with which agrees Diodorus Siculus f41 , who says, that from Gaza to Azotus are two hundred and seventy furlongs, which make thirty four miles, ten from Gaza to Ashkelon, and twenty four from thence to Azotus or Ashdod. This place, according to the above Jewish traveller f42 , is now called Palmis, which he says is the Ashdod that belonged to the Philistines, now waste and desolate; by which this prophecy is fulfilled. It was once a very large and famous city, strong and well fortified; and held out a siege of twenty nine years against Psamittichus king of Egypt, as Herodotus relates, but now destroyed; (see Isaiah 20:1): and Ekron shall be rooted up ; as a tree is rooted up, and withers away, and perishes, and there is no more hope of it: this denotes the utter destruction of this place. There is here also an elegant allusion to the name of the place f44 , not to be imitated in a version of it: this was another of the lordships of the Philistines, famous for the idol Beelzebub, the god of this place. Jerom observes, that some think that Accaron (or Ekron) is the same with Strato’s tower, afterwards called Caesarea; and so the Talmudists say f46 , Ekron is Caesarea; which is not at all probable: he further observes, that there is a large village of the Jews, which in his days was called Accaron, and lay between Azotus and Jamnia to the east; but Breidenbachius relates, that, in his time, Accaron was only a small cottage or hut, yet retaining its ancient name; so utterly rooted up is this place, which once was a considerable principality. Gath is not mentioned, which is the other of the five principalities, because it was now, as Kimchi says, in the hands of the kings of Judah.


Matthew Henry Commentary

Verses 4-15 - Those are really in a woful condition who have the word of the Lor against them, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. God wil restore his people to their rights, though long kept from them. It ha been the common lot of God's people, in all ages, to be reproached an 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 expec the performance of every promise, praying that our Father's name may be hallowed every where, over all the earth __________________________________________________________________


Original Hebrew

כי 3588 עזה 5804 עזובה 5800 תהיה 1961 ואשׁקלון 831 לשׁממה 8077 אשׁדוד 795 בצהרים 6672 יגרשׁוה 1644 ועקרון 6138 תעקר׃ 6131


CHAPTERS: 1, 2, 3
VERSES: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

PARALLEL VERSE BIBLE

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