Zephaniah 3:1–8

¹Woe to the rebellious and polluted, The oppressing city! ²She hath not hearkened to the voice, She hath not accepted instruction, In Jehovah she hath not trusted, Unto her God she hath not drawn near. ³Her heads in her midst are roaring lions, Her judges are evening wolves, They have not gnawn the bone in the morning. ⁴Her prophets unstable—men of treachery, Her priests have polluted the sanctuary, They have violated the law. ⁵Jehovah is righteous in her midst, He doth not do perverseness, Morning by morning His judgment he giveth to the light, It hath not been lacking, And the perverse doth not know shame. ⁶I have cut off nations, Desolated have been their chief ones, I have laid waste their out-places without any passing by, Destroyed have been their cities, Without man, without inhabitant. ⁷I have said: Only, ye do fear Me, Ye do accept instruction, And her habitation is not cut off, All that I have appointed for her, But they have risen early, They have corrupted all their doings.

⁸Therefore, wait for Me—an affirmation of Jehovah, For the day of My rising for prey, For My judgment is to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour out on them Mine indignation, All the heat of Mine anger, For by the fire of My jealousy consumed is all the earth.