Zephaniah 3:1–7

The Lord Will Save Jerusalem

3How terrible it will be for Jerusalem!

Its people crush others.

They refuse to obey the Lord.

They are “unclean.”

²They don’t obey anyone.

They don’t accept the Lord’s warnings.

They don’t trust in him.

They don’t ask their God for his help.

³Their officials are like roaring lions.

Their rulers are like wolves that hunt in the evening.

They don’t leave anything to eat in the morning.

⁴Their prophets are proud.

They can’t be trusted.

Their priests pollute the temple.

They break the law they teach others to obey.

⁵In spite of that, the Lord is good to Jerusalem.

He never does anything that is wrong.

Every morning he does what is fair.

Each new day he does the right thing.

But those who do what is wrong

aren’t even ashamed of it.

⁶The Lord says to his people,

“I have cut off other nations.

I have wiped out their forts.

I have left their streets deserted.

No one walks along them.

Their cities are destroyed.

Not even one person is left.

⁷I said to you people of Jerusalem,

‘Because I cut off other nations,

you will have respect for me.

Now you will accept my warning.’

I wish you had returned to me.

Then your homes would not have been torn down.

And I would not have had to punish you so much.

But you still wanted to go on sinning

in every way you could.