Zephaniah 2:6
What does Zephaniah 2:6 mean?
A plain-English look at Zephaniah 2:6 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Zephaniah 2:6 means
The once-fortified shoreline becomes open pasture, with simple cottages and sheepfolds. Military strongholds and commerce hubs give way to humble shepherd life. This is judgment and mercy intertwined: judgment on Philistia’s pride and violence, mercy in that the land is not wasted forever but made useful and peaceful. The image of folds for flocks speaks of quiet order and provision. God can repurpose what empires built for domination into spaces for care and livelihood. The change shows His power to level and to restore, to overturn oppressive centers and make them places of ordinary, sustaining work.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And the sea-coast shall be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And the sea-coast shall be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And the land by the sea will be grass-land, with houses for keepers of sheep and walled places for flocks.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And the sea-coast hath been habitations, Cottages <FI>for<Fi> shepherds, and folds <FI>for<Fi> a flock.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And the sea coast shall be the resting place of shepherds, and folds for cattle:
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890and the sea-coast shall be cave-dwellings for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
Context
This verse follows the woe on Philistia (v.5) and prepares for the promise that Judah’s remnant will actually live there (v.7). The move from ruined cities to pastures foreshadows restoration not only of land but of people who will inhabit it under God’s oversight. Next, the text states explicitly that the coastline will belong to the remnant of Judah, tying the land’s transformation to covenant faithfulness and future hope.
v.5Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea-coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Jehovah is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines; I will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.
v.6This passage
v.7And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed their flocks thereupon; in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening; for Jehovah their God will visit them, and bring back their captivity.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Isaiah 5:17
Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall wanderers 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.
- Ezekiel 25:5
And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a couching-place for flocks: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
- Zephaniah 2:14
And herds shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the pelican and the porcupine shall lodge in the capitals thereof; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he hath laid bare the cedar-work.
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