Zephaniah 1:1–12

Day of Judgment on Judah

¹The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of ^aJosiah son of ^bAmon, king of Judah:

²“I will completely ^aremove all things

From the face of the ¹earth,” declares the Lord.

³“I will remove ^aman and beast;

I will remove the ^bbirds of the sky

And the fish of the sea,

And the ^1cruins along with the wicked;

And I will cut off man from the face of the ²earth,” declares the Lord.

⁴“So I will ^astretch out My hand against Judah

And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And I will ^bcut off the remnant of Baal from this place,

And the names of the ^cidolatrous priests along with the priests.

⁵“And those who bow down on the ^ahousetops to the host of heaven,

And those who bow down and ^bswear to the Lord and yet swear by ^1cMilcom,

⁶And those who have ^aturned back from following the Lord,

And those who have ^bnot sought the Lord or inquired of Him.”

^71aBe silent before the Lord ²God!

For the ^bday of the Lord is near,

For the Lord has prepared a ^csacrifice,

He has ^dconsecrated His guests.

⁸“Then it will come about on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice

That I will ^apunish the princes, the king’s sons

And all who clothe themselves with ^bforeign garments.

⁹“And I will punish on that day all who leap on the temple threshold,

Who fill the house of their ¹lord with ^aviolence and deceit.

¹⁰“On that day,” declares the Lord,

“There will be the sound of a cry from the ^aFish Gate,

A wail from the ^1bSecond Quarter,

And a loud crash from the ^chills.

¹¹“Wail, O inhabitants of the ¹Mortar,

For all the ²people of ^aCanaan will be silenced;

All who weigh out ^bsilver will be cut off.

¹²“It will come about at that time

That I will ^asearch Jerusalem with lamps,

And I will punish the men

Who are ^1bstagnant in spirit,

Who say in their hearts,

‘The Lord will ^cnot do good or evil!’