Zephaniah

Zephaniah 1

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

The Lord Will Sweep Everything Away

2 “Let everything vanish completely from the face of the land,” says the Lord.

3 “Let people and cattle vanish;

let the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea vanish.

I will remove humanity from the face of the land,” says the Lord.

4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah

and against everyone living in Jerusalem.

I will remove from this place the names of Baal

and the names of the priests,

5 those who bow down on their rooftops to the army of heaven,

those who swear by the Lord

and those who swear by their king,

6 those who turn away from the Lord,

those who do not seek the Lord

and do not hold fast to him.

The Day of the Lord

7 Stand in awe before the Lord God,

because the day of the Lord is near.

The Lord has prepared his sacrifice

and made holy those he has invited.

8 “On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice

I will punish the rulers, the king’s household,

and everyone dressed in foreign clothing.

9 On that day I will openly punish everyone at the gateways,

those who fill the house of the Lord their God

with ungodliness and deceit.

10 On that day,” says the Lord,

“a cry will sound from the Gate of Those Who Kill,

wailing from the second quarter,

and a great crashing from the hills.

11 Wail, you who live in the broken-down quarter,

because all the people have become like Canaan,

and everyone lifted up by silver has been destroyed.

12 On that day I will search Jerusalem with a lamp

and punish the men who look down on what was entrusted to them.

They say in their hearts,

‘The Lord will do neither good nor harm.’

13 Their wealth will be plundered

and their houses wiped out.

They will build houses but not live in them,

and plant vineyards but not drink their wine.

14 The great day of the Lord is near—

near and coming very quickly.

The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter and harsh;

it is set, and it is mighty.

15 That day is a day of wrath,

a day of affliction and distress,

a day of ruin and destruction,

a day of darkness and thick darkness,

a day of cloud and mist,

16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry

against fortified cities and high corner towers.

17 “I will press people hard,

and they will walk like the blind,

because they sinned against the Lord.

Their blood will be poured out like dust

and their flesh like dung.

18 Neither their silver nor their gold

will be able to rescue them on the day of the Lord’s wrath.

The whole land will be consumed by the fire of his jealousy,

because he will make a swift end of everyone living in the land.”