Zephaniah 1

The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of ^aHizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

²I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord.

³I ^bwill consume ^cman and beast;

^bI will consume ^cthe fowls of the heaven, and ^cdthe fishes of the sea,

And ^ethe stumblingblocks with the wicked;

And ^fI will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord.

⁴I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah,

And upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

And ^gI will cut off ^hthe remnant of Baal from this place,

And ⁱthe name of ^jthe Chemarims with the priests;

⁵And ^kthem that worship the host of heaven ^kupon the housetops;

And ^lthem that worship and ^lmthat swear by the Lord,

And ^lnthat swear by ^oMalcham;

⁶And ^pthem that are turned back ^qfrom the Lord;

And ^rthose that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him.

^7sHold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God:

For ^tthe day of the Lord is at hand:

For ^uthe Lord hath prepared a sacrifice,

He hath bid ^vhis guests.

⁸And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,

That I will punish ^wthe princes, and ^wthe king’s children,

And all such as are ^xclothed with strange ^yapparel.

⁹In the same day also will I punish all those ^zthat leap on the threshold,

Which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.

¹⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord,

That there shall be the noise of a cry from ^athe fish gate,

And ^ba howling from ^cthe second,

And a great crashing from the hills.

^11dHowl, ye inhabitants of ^eMaktesh,

For all ^fthe merchant people are cut down;

All they that bear silver are cut off.

¹²And it shall come to pass at that time,

That ^ghI will search Jerusalem ^hwith candles,

And punish the men that are settled ^lon their lees:

^mThat say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.

¹³Therefore their goods shall become ⁿa booty, and their houses a desolation:

^oThey shall also build houses, but not inhabit them;

And ^opthey shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.

^14qThe great day of the Lord ^ris near,

It is near, and hasteth greatly,

Even the voice of the day of the Lord:

^sThe mighty man shall ^tcry ^uthere bitterly.

^15vThat day is a day of wrath,

A day of ^wtrouble and ^wdistress,

A day of ^xwasteness and ^xdesolation,

^yA day of darkness and gloominess,

^yzA day of clouds and thick darkness,

¹⁶A day of ^athe trumpet and ^aalarm

Against the fenced cities, and against the high ^btowers.

¹⁷And ^cI will bring distress upon men, that ^dthey shall walk like blind men,

Because they have sinned against the Lord:

And ^etheir blood shall be poured out as dust, and their ^fflesh ^gas the dung.

^18hNeither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them

ⁱIn the day of the Lord’s wrath;

But ^kthe whole land shall be devoured by ^lthe fire of ^mhis jealousy:

For ⁿhe shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

II.