Zephaniah 1:7–18

⁷Be silent before the Lord God,

for the day of the Lord is at hand!

The Lord has prepared a sacrifice;

he has consecrated his guests.^*

⁸And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice

I will punish the officials and the king’s sons

and all who dress themselves in foreign attire.^*

⁹On that day I will punish

all who leap over the threshold,

who fill their master’s house

with violence and fraud.^*

¹⁰On that day, says the Lord,

a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,

a wail from the Second Quarter,

a loud crash from the hills.^*

¹¹The inhabitants of the Mortar wail,

for all the traders have perished;

all who weigh out silver are cut off.

¹²At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,

and I will punish the people

who settle like dregs in wine,

those who say in their hearts,

“The Lord will not do good,

nor will he do harm.”^*

¹³Their wealth shall be plundered

and their houses laid waste.

Though they build houses,

they shall not inhabit them;

though they plant vineyards,

they shall not drink wine from them.^*

The Great Day of the Lord

¹⁴The great day of the Lord is near,

near and hastening fast;

the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;

the warrior cries aloud there.^*

¹⁵That day will be a day of wrath,

a day of distress and anguish,

a day of ruin and devastation,

a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and thick darkness,^*

¹⁶a day of trumpet blast and battle cry

against the fortified cities

and against the lofty battlements.

¹⁷I will bring such distress upon people

that they shall walk like the blind;

because they have sinned against the Lord,

their blood shall be poured out like dust

and their flesh like dung.^*

¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold

will be able to save them

on the day of the Lord’s wrath;

in the fire of his passion

the whole earth shall be consumed,

for a full, a terrible end

he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.^*