1The word of the L which 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:
2“I will completely remove allthings
From the face of the earth,” declares the L.
3“I will remove man and beast;
I will remove the birds of the sky
And the fish of the sea,
And the ruins along with the wicked;
And I will cut off man from the face of the earth,” declares the L.
4“So I will stretch out My hand against Judah
And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place,
And the names of the idolatrous priests along with the priests.
5“And those who bow down on the housetops to the host of heaven,
And those who bow downand swear to the L andyet swear by Milcom,
6And those who have turned back from following the L,
And those who have not sought the L or inquired of Him.”
7Be silent before the Lord G!
For the day of the L is near,
For the L has prepared a sacrifice,
He has consecrated His guests.
8“Then it will come about on the day of the L sacrifice
That I will punish the princes, the king’s sons
And all who clothe themselves with foreign garments.
9“And I will punish on that day all who leap on thetemple threshold,
Who fill the house of their lord with violence and deceit.
10“On that day,” declares the L,
“There will be the sound of a cry from the Fish Gate,
A wail from the Second Quarter,
And a loud crash from the hills.
11“Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar,
For all the people of Canaan will be silenced;
All who weigh out silver will be cut off.
12“It will come about at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And I will punish the men
Who are stagnant in spirit,
Who say in their hearts,
‘The L will not do good or evil!’
13“Moreover, their wealth will become plunder
And their houses desolate;
Yes, they will build houses but not inhabitthem,
And plant vineyards but not drink their wine.”
14Near is the great day of the L,
Near and coming very quickly;
Listen, the day of the L!
In it the warrior cries out bitterly.
15A day of wrath is that day,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of destruction and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
16A day of trumpet and battle cry
Against the fortified cities
And the high corner towers.
17I will bring distress on men
So that they will walk like the blind,
Because they have sinned against the L;
And their blood will be poured out like dust
And their flesh like dung.
18Neither their silver nor their gold
Will be able to deliver them
On the day of the L wrath;
And all the earth will be devoured
In the fire of His jealousy,
For He will make a complete end,
Indeed a terrifying one,
Of all the inhabitants of the earth.
