Zephaniah 1–2

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

The Great Day of the Lord

²“I will ¹utterly consume everything

From the face of the land,”

Says the Lord;

³“I ^bwill consume man and beast;

I will consume the birds of the heavens,

The fish of the sea,

And the ²stumbling blocks along with the wicked.

I will cut off man from the face of the ³land,”

Says the Lord.

⁴“I will stretch out My hand against Judah,

And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

⁴I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place,

The names of the ^cidolatrous ⁵priests with the pagan priests—

⁵Those ^dwho worship the host of heaven on the housetops;

Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord,

But who also swear ^eby ⁶Milcom;

^6fThose who have turned back from following the Lord,

And ^ghave not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.”

^7hBe silent in the presence of the Lord God;

ⁱFor the day of the Lord is at hand,

For ^jthe Lord has prepared a sacrifice;

He has ⁷invited His guests.

⁸“And it shall be,

In the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,

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

And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.

⁹In the same day I will punish

All those who ^lleap over the threshold,

Who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.

¹⁰“And there shall be on that day,” says the Lord,

“The sound of a mournful cry from ^mthe Fish Gate,

A wailing from the Second Quarter,

And a loud crashing from the hills.

¹¹ⁿWail, you inhabitants of ⁸Maktesh!

For all the merchant people are cut down;

All those who handle money are cut off.

¹²“And it shall come to pass at that time

That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,

And punish the men

Who are ^osettled ⁹in complacency,

^pWho say in their heart,

‘The Lord will not do good,

Nor will He do evil.’

¹³Therefore their goods shall become booty,

And their houses a desolation;

They shall build houses, but not inhabit them;

They shall plant vineyards, but ^qnot drink their wine.”

^14rThe great day of the Lord is near;

It is near and hastens quickly.

The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter;

There the mighty men shall cry out.

^15sThat day is a day of wrath,

A day of trouble and distress,

A day of devastation and desolation,

A day of darkness and gloominess,

A day of clouds and thick darkness,

¹⁶A day of ^ttrumpet and alarm

Against the fortified cities

And against the high towers.

¹⁷“I will bring distress upon men,

And they shall ^uwalk like blind men,

Because they have sinned against the Lord;

Their blood shall be poured out like dust,

And their flesh like refuse.”

^18vNeither their silver nor their gold

Shall be able to deliver them

In the day of the Lord’s wrath;

But the whole land shall be devoured

By the fire of His jealousy,

For He will make speedy riddance

Of all those who dwell in the land.

A Call to Repentance

2Gather ^ayourselves together, yes, gather together,

O ¹undesirable nation,

²Before the decree is issued,

Or the day passes like chaff,

Before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you,

Before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you!

^3bSeek the Lord, ^call you meek of the earth,

Who have upheld His justice.

Seek righteousness, seek humility.

^dIt may be that you will be hidden

In the day of the Lord’s anger.

Judgment on Nations

⁴For ^eGaza shall be forsaken,

And Ashkelon desolate;

They shall drive out Ashdod ^fat noonday,

And Ekron shall be uprooted.

⁵Woe to the inhabitants of ^gthe seacoast,

The nation of the Cherethites!

The word of the Lord is against you,

O ^hCanaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy you;

So there shall be no inhabitant.”

⁶The seacoast shall be pastures,

With ²shelters for shepherds ⁱand folds for flocks.

⁷The coast shall be for ^jthe remnant of the house of Judah;

They shall feed their flocks there;

In the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening.

For the Lord their God will ^kintervene ³for them,

And ^lreturn their captives.

⁸“I ^mhave heard the reproach of Moab,

And ⁿthe insults of the people of Ammon,

With which they have reproached My people,

And ^omade arrogant threats against their borders.

⁹Therefore, as I live,”

Says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,

“Surely ^pMoab shall be like Sodom,

And ^qthe people of Ammon like Gomorrah—

^rOverrun ⁴with weeds and saltpits,

And a ⁵perpetual desolation.

The residue of My people shall plunder them,

And the remnant of My people shall possess them.”

¹⁰This they shall have ^sfor their pride,

Because they have reproached and made arrogant threats

Against the people of the Lord of hosts.

¹¹The Lord will be awesome to them,

For He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth;

^tPeople shall worship Him,

Each one from his place,

Indeed all ^uthe shores of the nations.

¹²“You ^vEthiopians also,

You shall be slain by ^wMy sword.”

¹³And He will stretch out His hand against the north,

^xDestroy Assyria,

And make Nineveh a desolation,

As dry as the wilderness.

¹⁴The herds shall lie down in her midst,

^yEvery beast of the nation.

Both the ^zpelican and the bittern

Shall lodge on the capitals of her pillars;

Their voice shall sing in the windows;

Desolation shall be at the threshold;

For He will lay bare the ^acedar work.

¹⁵This is the rejoicing city

^bThat dwelt securely,

^cThat said in her heart,

“I am it, and there is none besides me.”

How has she become a desolation,

A place for beasts to lie down!

Everyone who passes by her

^dShall hiss and ^eshake his fist.