Zephaniah 1–3

1This is the word of the Lord that came through Zephaniah while Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah. Zephaniah was the son of Cushi, who was the son of Gedaliah. Gedaliah was the son of Amariah, who was the son of Hezekiah.

The Lord’s Judgment

²“I will sweep away everything

from the earth,” says the Lord.

³“I will sweep away the people and animals;

I will destroy the birds in the air

and the fish of the sea.

I will ruin the evil people,

and I will remove human beings from the earth,” says the Lord.

The Future of Judah

⁴“I will punish Judah

and all the people living in Jerusalem.

I will remove from this place

all signs of Baal, the false priests, and the other priests.

⁵I will destroy those who worship

the stars from the roofs, ⁿ

and those who worship and make promises

by both the Lord and the god Molech,

⁶and those who turned away from the Lord,

and those who quit following the Lord and praying to him for direction.

⁷Be silent before the Lord God,

because the Lord’s day for judging people is coming soon.

The Lord has prepared a sacrifice;

he has made holy his invited guests.

⁸On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,

I, the Lord, will punish the princes and the king’s sons

and all those who wear foreign clothes.

⁹On that day I will punish those who worship Dagon,

those who hurt others and tell lies in the temples of their gods.

¹⁰“On that day,” says the Lord,

“a cry will be heard at the Fish Gate.

A wail will come from the new area of the city,

and a loud crash will echo from the hills.

¹¹Cry, you people living in the market area,

because all the merchants will be dead;

all the silver traders will be gone.

¹²At that time I, the Lord, will search Jerusalem with lamps.

I will punish those who are satisfied with themselves,

who think, ‘The Lord won’t help us or punish us.’

¹³Their wealth will be stolen

and their houses destroyed.

They may build houses,

but they will not live in them.

They may plant vineyards,

but they will not drink any wine from them.

The Lord’s Day of Judging

¹⁴“The Lord’s day of judging is coming soon;

it is near and coming fast.

The cry will be very sad on the day of the Lord;

even soldiers will cry.

¹⁵That day will be a day of anger,

a day of terror and trouble,

a day of destruction and ruin,

a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and blackness,

¹⁶a day of alarms and battle cries.

‘Attack the strong, walled cities!

Attack the corner towers!’

¹⁷I will make life hard on the people;

they will walk around like the blind,

because they have sinned against the Lord.

Their blood will be poured out like dust,

and their insides will be dumped like trash.

¹⁸On the day that God will show his anger,

neither their silver nor gold will save them.

The Lord’s anger will be like a fire

that will burn up the whole world;

suddenly he will bring an end, yes, an end

to everyone on earth.”

The Lord Asks People to Change

2Gather together, gather,

you unwanted people.

²Do it before it’s too late,

before you are blown away like chaff,

before the Lord’s terrible anger reaches you,

before the day of the Lord’s anger comes to you.

³Come to the Lord, all you who are not proud,

who obey his laws.

Do what is right. Learn to be humble.

Maybe you will escape

on the day the Lord shows his anger.

Philistia Will Be Punished

⁴No one will be left in the city of Gaza,

and the city of Ashkelon will be destroyed.

Ashdod will be empty by noon,

and the people of Ekron will be chased away.

⁵How terrible it will be for you who live by the Mediterranean Sea,

you Philistines!

The word of the Lord is against you,

Canaan, land of the Philistines.

“I will destroy you

so that no one will be left.”

⁶The land by the Mediterranean Sea, in which you live,

will become pastures, fields for shepherds, and pens for sheep.

⁷It will belong to the descendants of Judah who are left alive.

There they will let their sheep eat grass.

At night they will sleep

in the houses of Ashkelon.

The Lord their God will pay attention to them

and will make their life good again.

Moab and Ammon Will Be Punished

⁸“I have heard the insults of the country of Moab

and the threats of the people of Ammon.

They have insulted my people

and have taken their land.”

⁹So the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says,

“As surely as I live,

Moab will be destroyed like Sodom,

and Ammon will be destroyed like Gomorrah ⁿ—

a heap of weeds, a pit of salt,

and a ruin forever.

Those of my people who are left alive will take whatever they want from them;

those who are left from my nation will take their land.”

¹⁰This is what Moab and Ammon get for being proud,

because they insulted and made fun of the people of the Lord All-Powerful.

¹¹The Lord will frighten them,

because he will destroy all the gods of the earth.

Then everyone in faraway places

will worship him wherever they are.

Cush and Assyria Will Be Destroyed

¹²“You Cushites also

will be killed by my sword.”

¹³Then the Lord will turn against the north

and destroy Assyria.

He will make Nineveh

a ruin as dry as a desert.

¹⁴Flocks and herds will lie down there,

and all wild animals.

The owls and crows will sit

on the stone pillars.

The owl will hoot through the windows,

trash will be in the doorways,

and the wooden boards of the buildings will be gone.

¹⁵This is the happy and safe city

that thinks there is no one else as strong as it is.

But what a ruin it will be,

a place where wild animals live.

All those who pass by will make fun

and shake their fists.

Jerusalem Will Be Punished

3How terrible for the wicked, stubborn city of Jerusalem,

which hurts its own people.

²It obeys no voice;

it can’t be taught to do right.

It doesn’t trust the Lord;

it doesn’t worship its God.

³Its officers are like roaring lions.

Its rulers are like hungry wolves that attack in the evening,

and in the morning nothing is left of those they attacked.

⁴Its prophets are proud;

they are people who cannot be trusted.

Its priests don’t respect holy things;

they break God’s teachings.

⁵But the Lord is good, and he is there in that city.

He does no wrong.

Every morning he governs the people fairly;

every day he can be trusted.

But evil people are not ashamed of what they do.

⁶“I have destroyed nations;

their towers were ruined.

I made their streets empty

so no one goes there anymore.

Their cities are ruined;

no one lives there at all.

⁷I said, ‘Surely now Jerusalem will respect me

and will accept my teaching.’

Then the place where they lived would not be destroyed,

and I would not have to punish them.

But they were still eager

to do evil in everything they did.

⁸Just wait,” says the Lord.

“Someday I will stand up as a witness.

I have decided that I will gather nations

and assemble kingdoms.

I will pour out my anger on them,

all my strong anger.

My anger will be like fire

that will burn up the whole world.

A New Day for God’s People

⁹“Then I will give the people of all nations pure speech

so that all of them will speak the name of the Lord

and worship me together.

¹⁰People will come from where the Nile River begins;

my scattered people will come with gifts for me.

¹¹Then Jerusalem will not be ashamed

of the wrongs done against me,

because I will remove from this city

those who like to brag;

there will never be any more proud people

on my holy mountain in Jerusalem.

¹²But I will leave in the city

the humble and those who are not proud,

and they will trust in the Lord.

¹³Those who are left alive in Israel won’t do wrong or tell lies;

they won’t trick people with their words.

They will eat and lie down

with no one to make them afraid.”

A Happy Song

¹⁴Sing, Jerusalem.

Israel, shout for joy!

Jerusalem, be happy

and rejoice with all your heart.

¹⁵The Lord has stopped punishing you;

he has sent your enemies away.

The King of Israel, the Lord, is with you;

you will never again be afraid of being harmed.

¹⁶On that day Jerusalem will be told,

“Don’t be afraid, city of Jerusalem.

Don’t give up.

¹⁷The Lord your God is with you;

the mighty One will save you.

He will rejoice over you.

You will rest in his love;

he will sing and be joyful about you.”

¹⁸“I will take away the sadness planned for you,

which would have made you very ashamed.

¹⁹At that time I will punish

all those who harmed you.

I will save my people who cannot walk

and gather my people who have been thrown out.

I will give them praise and honor

in every place where they were shamed.

²⁰At that time I will gather you;

at that time I will bring you back home.

I will give you honor and praise

from people everywhere

when I make things go well again for you,

as you will see with your own eyes,” says the Lord.