Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;
Parallel translations
- WEB Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation that has no shame,
- BSB Gather yourselves, gather together, O shameful nation,
- NKJV Gatheryourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation,
- NASB Gather yourselves together, yes, join together, You nation without shame,
- NLT Gather together—yes, gather together, you shameless nation.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The prophet urgently calls the shameless nation to gather itself together. It matters because it summons a complacent people to assemble for repentance before judgment falls.
Overview
The repeated call to 'gather' conveys urgency, addressing a nation that feels no shame for its sin. It is an appeal to assemble in humility and self-examination rather than continue in rebellion. This sets up the plea of the following verses, showing that God's warnings are also gracious invitations to turn back.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Joel 1:14Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD.
- 2 Chr 20:4And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
- Neh 8:1And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.
- Esth 4:16Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
- Neh 9:1Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
- Zech 11:8Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
- Jer 3:3Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
- Jer 6:15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
- Matt 18:20For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
- Isa 1:4–6Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
- Isa 26:8–9Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
- Isa 1:10–15Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
- Jer 12:7–9I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
- Joel 2:12–18Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
Resources, by level
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The day of the LORD gives way to the promise that God himself will be in the midst of his people, rejoicing over them with singing — fulfilled in the saving presence of Christ.
How Zephaniah 2:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.