The Philistine coast will become a wilderness pasture, a place of shepherd camps and enclosures for sheep and goats.
Parallel translations
- WEB The sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.
- KJV And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
- BSB So the seacoast will become a land of pastures, with wells for shepherds and folds for sheep.
- NKJV The seacoast shall be pastures, With shelters for shepherds and folds for flocks.
- NASB So the seacoast will become grazing places, With pastures for shepherds and folds for flocks.
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 once-bustling coast will become open pastureland with shepherds and flocks. It matters because it pictures proud cities reduced to quiet wilderness under God's judgment.
Overview
The transformation of urban territory into grazing land vividly portrays desolation. What was a hub of Philistine power becomes fit only for shepherds. This reversal magnifies God's authority to humble the proud and reshape the fortunes of nations.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Ezek 25:5I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a resting place for flocks: and you shall know that I am Yahweh.
- Isa 17:2The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.
- Zeph 2:14–15Herds will lie down in the middle of her, all the animals of the nations. Both the pelican and the porcupine will lodge in its capitals. Their calls will echo through the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds, for he has laid bare the cedar beams.
- Isa 5:17Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 2:6 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.