The Lord gave this message to Zephaniah when Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah. Zephaniah was the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah.

Coming Judgment against Judah

²“I will sweep away everything

from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.

³“I will sweep away people and animals alike.

I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish in the sea.

I will reduce the wicked to heaps of rubble,

and I will wipe humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.

⁴“I will crush Judah and Jerusalem with my fist

and destroy every last trace of their Baal worship.

I will put an end to all the idolatrous priests,

so that even the memory of them will disappear.

⁵For they go up to their roofs

and bow down to the sun, moon, and stars.

They claim to follow the Lord,

but then they worship Molech, too.

⁶And I will destroy those who used to worship me

but now no longer do.

They no longer ask for the Lord’s guidance

or seek my blessings.”

⁷Stand in silence in the presence of the Sovereign Lord,

for the awesome day of the Lord’s judgment is near.

The Lord has prepared his people for a great slaughter

and has chosen their executioners.

⁸“On that day of judgment,”

says the Lord,

“I will punish the leaders and princes of Judah

and all those following pagan customs.

⁹Yes, I will punish those who participate in pagan worship ceremonies,

and those who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.

¹⁰“On that day,” says the Lord,

“a cry of alarm will come from the Fish Gate

and echo throughout the New Quarter of the city.

And a great crash will sound from the hills.

¹¹Wail in sorrow, all you who live in the market area,

for all the merchants and traders will be destroyed.

¹²“I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem’s darkest corners

to punish those who sit complacent in their sins.

They think the Lord will do nothing to them,

either good or bad.

¹³So their property will be plundered,

their homes will be ransacked.

They will build new homes

but never live in them.

They will plant vineyards

but never drink wine from them.

¹⁴“That terrible day of the Lord is near.

Swiftly it comes—

a day of bitter tears,

a day when even strong men will cry out.

¹⁵It will be a day when the Lord’s anger is poured out—

a day of terrible distress and anguish,

a day of ruin and desolation,

a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and blackness,

¹⁶a day of trumpet calls and battle cries.

Down go the walled cities

and the strongest battlements!

¹⁷“Because you have sinned against the Lord,

I will make you grope around like the blind.

Your blood will be poured into the dust,

and your bodies will lie rotting on the ground.”

¹⁸Your silver and gold will not save you

on that day of the Lord’s anger.

For the whole land will be devoured

by the fire of his jealousy.

He will make a terrifying end

of all the people on earth.

Chapter 2 A Call to Repentance

¹Gather together—yes, gather together,

you shameless nation.

²Gather before judgment begins,

before your time to repent is blown away like chaff.

Act now, before the fierce fury of the Lord falls

and the terrible day of the Lord’s anger begins.

³Seek the Lord, all who are humble,

and follow his commands.

Seek to do what is right

and to live humbly.

Perhaps even yet the Lord will protect you—

protect you from his anger on that day of destruction.

Judgment against Philistia

⁴Gaza and Ashkelon will be abandoned,

Ashdod and Ekron torn down.

⁵And what sorrow awaits you Philistines

who live along the coast and in the land of Canaan,

for this judgment is against you, too!

The Lord will destroy you

until not one of you is left.

⁶The Philistine coast will become a wilderness pasture,

a place of shepherd camps

and enclosures for sheep and goats.

⁷The remnant of the tribe of Judah will pasture there.

They will rest at night in the abandoned houses in Ashkelon.

For the Lord their God will visit his people in kindness

and restore their prosperity again.

Judgment against Moab and Ammon

⁸“I have heard the taunts of the Moabites

and the insults of the Ammonites,

mocking my people

and invading their borders.

⁹Now, as surely as I live,”

says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,

“Moab and Ammon will be destroyed—

destroyed as completely as Sodom and Gomorrah.

Their land will become a place of stinging nettles,

salt pits, and eternal desolation.

The remnant of my people will plunder them

and take their land.”

¹⁰They will receive the wages of their pride,

for they have scoffed at the people of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

¹¹The Lord will terrify them

as he destroys all the gods in the land.

Then nations around the world will worship the Lord,

each in their own land.

Judgment against Ethiopia and Assyria

¹²“You Ethiopians will also be slaughtered

by my sword,” says the Lord.

¹³And the Lord will strike the lands of the north with his fist,

destroying the land of Assyria.

He will make its great capital, Nineveh, a desolate wasteland,

parched like a desert.

¹⁴The proud city will become a pasture for flocks and herds,

and all sorts of wild animals will settle there.

The desert owl and screech owl will roost on its ruined columns,

their calls echoing through the gaping windows.

Rubble will block all the doorways,

and the cedar paneling will be exposed to the weather.

¹⁵This is the boisterous city,

once so secure.

“I am the greatest!” it boasted.

“No other city can compare with me!”

But now, look how it has become an utter ruin,

a haven for wild animals.

Everyone passing by will laugh in derision

and shake a defiant fist.

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