1
📚The 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 Josiah✭ the son of Amon✭, king of Judah.God’s judgment was about to come on Judah and on the whole earth
2 📚✭“I will completely make an end
of all things from the land✭”,
says the LORD.
3 📚“I will make an end of man and beast;
I will make an end of the birds
of the sky,
and the fish of the sea,
and the stumbling blocks along
with the wicked.
And I will cut man off from the land”,
says the LORD.
4 📚✭“I will✭ stretch out my hand against
Judah and against all the inhabitants
of Jerusalem,
and I will cut off what is left of Baal✭
from this place,
and the names of the idolatrous
priests✭ along with the priests,
5 📚And those who worship the starry host✭
of heaven on the housetops,
and those who worship and swear
by the LORD,
and who swear by Malcam✭,
6 📚✭And those who have turned back
from the LORD,
and those who have not sought
the LORD or inquired of him.
The destruction coming on the Day of the LORD
7 📚Be silent✭ in the presence of the Lord God,
for the day of the LORD✭ is at hand,
for the LORD has prepared a sacrifice✭,
he has invited his guests.
8 📚And this will take place on the day
of the LORD’s sacrifice:
I will punish the princes,
and the king’s children,
and all those dressed in foreign clothes✭.
9 📚On the same day I will also punish
all those who leap over
the temple threshold✭,
who fill their masters’ houses
with violence and deceit.
10 📚“And on that day”, says the LORD,
“this will take place:
there will be the sound of a cry
from the Fish Gate,
and a wailing from the Second Quarter,
and a loud crash from the hills.
11 📚Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh,
for all the merchant people
will be cut down,
all those who carry silver will be cut off.
12 📚And it will happen at that time
that I will search Jerusalem
with lamps,
and punish the men who are settled
complacently✭ like wine
on its dregs✭,
who say in their heart,
‘The LORD will not do✭ good,
nor will he do evil.’
13 📚Therefore their goods will
become booty✭,
and their houses a desolation.
And they will build houses
but not live in them,
and they will plant vineyards
but not drink their wine.
14 📚✭“The great day of the LORD is near.
It is near✭,
and coming speedily.
The sound of the day of the LORD!
The mighty man there will cry
out bitterly.
15 📚That day is a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress,
a day of devastation and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and dense darkness,
16 📚A day of the trumpet and alarm
against the fortified cities,
and against the high towers.
17 📚I will bring distress on men,
so that they walk like blind men✭,
because they have sinned against
the LORD.
And their blood will be poured
out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
18 📚Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them in the day
of the LORD’s wrath✭;
and the whole land will be devoured✭
by the fire of his jealousy.
For quickly he will rid the land
of all those who live in it”.