1 Gather your selues together, yea gather together, O nation not desired.
2 Before the decree bring foorth, before the day passe as the chaffe, before the fierce anger of the Lord come vpon you, before the day of the Lords anger come vpon you.
3 Seeke ye the Lord all ye meeke of the earth, which haue wrought his iudgement, seeke righteousnesse, seeke meeknesse: it may be, ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger.
4 ¶ For Gaza shall bee forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall driue out Ashdod at the noone day, and Ekron shall be rooted vp.
5 Woe vnto the inhabitants of the sea coast: the nation of the Cherethites, the word of the Lord is against you: O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will euen destroy thee, that there shal be no inhabitant.
6 And the sea coast shall bee dwellings and cottages for shepheards, and foldes for flockes.
7 And the coast shall bee for the remnant of the house of Iudah, they shall feede thereupon, in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie downe in the euening: for the Lord their God shall visite them, and turne away their captiuitie.
8 ¶ I haue heard the reproach of Moab, and the reuilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they haue reproched my people, and magnified themselues against their border.
9 Therefore, as I liue, saith the Lord of hostes the God of Israel, surely Moab shalbe as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, euen the breeding of netles, and salt pits, and a perpetuall desolation, the residue of my people shall spoile them, and the remnant of my people shall possesse them.
10 This shall they haue for their pride, because they haue reproched and magnified themselues against the people of the Lord of hostes.
11 The Lord will be terrible vnto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth, and men shall worship him, euery one from his place, euen all the Iles of the heathen.
12 ¶ Ye Ethiopians also, ye shalbe slaine by my sword.
13 And he wil stretch out his hand against the North, and destroy Assyria, and wil make Nineueh a desolation, and dry like a wildernes.
14 And flocks shall lie downe in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the Cormorant, and the Bitterne, shall lodge in the vpper lintels of it: their voice shal sing in the windowes, desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall vncouer the Cedar worke.
15 This is the reioycing citie that dwelt carelessely, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is shee become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie downe in! euery one that passeth by her, shall hisse and wagge his hand.
An exhortation to repentance. (1-3) Judgments upon other nations. (4-15)1-3 The prophet calls to national repentance, as the only way to prevent national ruin. A nation not desiring, that has not desires toward God, is not desirous of his favour and grace, has no mind to repent and reform. Or, not desirable, not having any thing to recommend them to God; to whom God might justly say, Depart from me; but he says, Gather together to me that you may seek my face. We know what God's decree will bring against impenitent sinners, therefore it highly concerns all to repent in the accepted time. How careful should we all be to seek peace with God, before the Holy Spirit withdraws from us, or ceases to strive with us; before the day of grace is over, or the day of life; before our everlasting state is determined! Let the poor, despised, and afflicted, seek the Lord, and seek to understand and keep his commandments better, that they may be more humbled for their sins. The chief hope of deliverance from national judgments rests upon prayer.
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 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 expect the performance of every promise, praying that our Father's name may be hallowed every where, over all the earth.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.