¹1God’s Message to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah. It came during the reign of Josiah son of Amon, who was king of Judah:

²“I’m going to make a clean sweep of the earth,

a thorough housecleaning.” God’s Decree.

³“Men and women and animals,

including birds and fish—

Anything and everything that causes sin—will go,

but especially people.

^4–6“I’ll start with Judah

and everybody who lives in Jerusalem.

I’ll sweep the place clean of every trace

of the sex-and-religion Baal shrines and their priests.

I’ll get rid of the people who sneak up to their rooftops at night

to worship the star gods and goddesses;

Also those who continue to worship God

but cover their bases by worshiping other king-gods as well;

Not to mention those who’ve dumped God altogether,

no longer giving him a thought or offering a prayer.

^7–13“Quiet now!

Reverent silence before me, God, the Master!

Time’s up. My Judgment Day is near:

The Holy Day is all set, the invited guests made holy.

On the Holy Day, God’s Judgment Day,

I will punish the leaders and the royal sons;

I will punish those who dress up like foreign priests and priestesses,

Who introduce pagan prayers and practices;

And I’ll punish all who import pagan superstitions

that turn holy places into hellholes.

Judgment Day!” God’s Decree!

“Cries of panic from the city’s Fish Gate,

Cries of terror from the city’s Second Quarter,

sounds of great crashing from the hills!

Wail, you shopkeepers on Market Street!

Moneymaking has had its day. The god Money is dead.

On Judgment Day,

I’ll search through every closet and alley in Jerusalem.

I’ll find and punish those who are sitting it out, fat and lazy,

amusing themselves and taking it easy,

Who think, ‘God doesn’t do anything, good or bad.

He isn’t involved, so neither are we.’

But just wait. They’ll lose everything they have,

money and house and land.

They’ll build a house and never move in.

They’ll plant vineyards and never taste the wine.

A Day of Darkness at Noon

^14–18“The Great Judgment Day of God is almost here.

It’s countdown time: … seven, six, five, four …

Bitter and noisy cries on my Judgment Day,

even strong men screaming for help.

Judgment Day is payday—my anger paid out:

a day of distress and anguish,

a day of catastrophic doom,

a day of darkness at noon,

a day of black storm clouds,

a day of bloodcurdling war cries,

as forts are assaulted,

as defenses are smashed.

I’ll make things so bad they won’t know what hit them.

They’ll walk around groping like the blind.

They’ve sinned against God!

Their blood will be poured out like old dishwater,

their guts shoveled into slop buckets.

Don’t plan on buying your way out.

Your money is worthless for this.

This is the Day of God’s Judgment—my wrath!

I care about sin with fiery passion—

A fire to burn up the corrupted world,

a wildfire finish to the corrupting people.”

Seek God

^1–22So get yourselves together. Shape up!

You’re a nation without a clue about what it wants.

Do it before you’re blown away

like leaves in a windstorm,

Before God’s Judgment-anger

sweeps down on you,

Before God’s Judgment Day wrath

descends with full force.

³Seek God, all you quietly disciplined people

who live by God’s justice.

Seek God’s right ways. Seek a quiet and disciplined life.

Perhaps you’ll be hidden on the Day of God’s anger.

All Earth-Made Gods Will Blow Away

^4–5Gaza is scheduled for demolition,

Ashdod will be cleaned out by high noon,

Ekron pulled out by the roots.

Doom to the seaside people,

the seafaring people from Crete!

The Word of God is bad news for you

who settled Canaan, the Philistine country:

“You’re slated for destruction—

no survivors!”

^6–7The lands of the seafarers

will become pastureland,

A country for shepherds and sheep.

What’s left of the family of Judah will get it.

Day after day they’ll pasture by the sea,

and go home in the evening to Ashkelon to sleep.

Their very own God will look out for them.

He’ll make things as good as before.

^8–12“I’ve heard the crude taunts of Moab,

the mockeries flung by Ammon,

The cruel talk they’ve used to put down my people,

their self-important strutting along Israel’s borders.

Therefore, as sure as I am the living God,” says

God-of-the-Angel-Armies,

Israel’s personal God,

“Moab will become a ruin like Sodom,

Ammon a ghost town like Gomorrah,

One a field of rocks, the other a sterile salt flat,

a moonscape forever.

What’s left of my people will finish them off,

will pick them clean and take over.

This is what they get for their bloated pride,

their taunts and mockeries of the people

of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

God will be seen as truly terrible—a Holy Terror.

All earth-made gods will shrivel up and blow away;

And everyone, wherever they are, far or near,

will fall to the ground and worship him.

Also you Ethiopians,

you, too, will die—I’ll see to it.”

^13–15Then God will reach into the north

and destroy Assyria.

He will waste Nineveh,

leave her dry and treeless as a desert.

The ghost town of a city,

the haunt of wild animals,

Nineveh will be home to raccoons and coyotes—

they’ll bed down in its ruins.

Owls will hoot in the windows, ravens will croak in the doorways—

all that fancy woodwork now a perch for birds.

Can this be the famous Fun City

that had it made,

That boasted, “I’m the Number-One City!

I’m King of the Mountain!”

So why is the place deserted,

a lair for wild animals?

Passersby hardly give it a look;

they dismiss it with a gesture.

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