Zephaniah 1
1
The Lord’s Judgment
1This is the message of the Lord that came through Zephaniah. It came while Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah. Zephaniah was the son of Cushi, who was the son of Gedaliah. Gedaliah was the son of Amariah, who was the son of Hezekiah.
2“I will destroy everything
on earth,” says the Lord.
3“I will destroy the people and animals.
I will destroy the birds in the air
and the fish of the sea.
I will ruin the evil people.
I will remove all the people from the earth,” says the Lord.
The Future of Judah
4“I will punish Judah
and all the people living in Jerusalem.
I will remove from this place
all signs of Baal and his priests.
5I will destroy those who worship
the stars from the roofs.# In Bible times houses were built with flat roofs. The roof was used for drying things such as flax and fruit. And it was used as an extra room, as a place for worship and as a place to sleep in the summer.
I will destroy those who worship and make promises
by both the Lord and the god Molech.
6I will destroy those who turned away from the Lord.
They quit following the Lord and consulting him.
7Be silent before the Lord God.
His day for judging people is coming soon.
The Lord has prepared to sacrifice Judah.
He has appointed the invited guests to feast on Judah.
8On that day the Lord will sacrifice Judah.
I, the Lord, will punish the princes and the king’s sons.
And I will punish all
those who wear foreign clothes.
9On that day I will punish those who worship Dagon.
I will punish those who hurt others
and tell lies in the temples of their gods.
10“On that day this will happen,” says the Lord.
“A cry will be heard at the Fish Gate.
A wail will come from the new area of the city.
A loud crash will echo from the hills.
11The people living in the market area will wail.
All the merchants will be dead.
All the silver traders will be gone.
12At that time I, the Lord, will search Jerusalem with lamps.
I will punish those who are settled and satisfied with themselves.
They are like wine left to settle.
They think, ‘The Lord never does anything.
He won’t help us or punish us.’
13Their wealth will be stolen.
Their houses will be destroyed.
They may build houses,
but they will never live in them.
They may plant vineyards,
but they will never drink any wine from them.
The Lord’s Day of Judging
14“The Lord’s day of judging is coming soon.
That great day is near and coming fast.
The cry will be very sad on that day.
Even soldiers will cry.
15That day will be a day of anger.
It will be a day of terror and trouble.
It will be a day of destruction and ruin.
It will be a day of darkness and gloom.
It will be a day of clouds and blackness.
16It will be a day of alarms and battle cries.
‘Attack the strong, walled cities!
Attack the corner towers!’
17I will make life hard on the people.
They will walk around like blind men.
This is because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust.
And their bodies will be dumped like trash.
18On that day God will show his anger.
Then neither their silver nor gold will save them.
The Lord’s anger will be like fire.
And the whole world will be burned up.
Suddenly he will bring an end
to everyone on earth.”
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Zephaniah 1: ICB
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Tz'fanyah (Zep) 1
1
1This is the word of Adonai that came to Tz’fanyah the son of Kushi, the son of G’dalyah, the son of Amaryah, the son of Hizkiyah, during the reign of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Y’hudah:
2“I will completely sweep away everything
off the face of the land,” says Adonai.
3“I will sweep away humans and animals,
the birds in the air and the fish in the sea,
also the wicked and what makes them stumble;
I will wipe humanity off the land,” says Adonai.
4“I will stretch out my hand over Y’hudah
and all those living in Yerushalayim.
I will wipe every remnant of Ba‘al from this place,
the idol-serving priests and even their names,
5those worshipping heaven’s army on the roofs,
also those who worship and swear by Adonai
but swear by Malkam as well,
6those who turned away from following Adonai,
and those who haven’t sought Adonai
or consulted him at all.”
7Keep silent before Adonai Elohim,
for the Day of Adonai is near.
Adonai has prepared a sacrifice;
he has set apart those he invited.
8When the time comes for Adonai’s sacrifice —
“I will punish the leaders
and the sons of the king,
also those who dress in foreign clothes.
9On the same day I will also punish
all who jump over the threshold
to fill the house of their master
with violence and deceit.
10Also on that day,” says Adonai,
“a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
wailing from the city’s Second Quarter
and a loud crash from the hills.
11Wail, you who live down in the hollow,
because all the merchants are destroyed,
all who trade with silver are ruined.
12When that time comes, I will search
Yerushalayim with lamps
and punish those who are [smug and thick,
like wine] left too long on its dregs,
who say to themselves, ‘Adonai will do nothing —
neither good nor bad.’
13For this, their wealth will be plundered;
and their houses will be destroyed.
Yes, they will build houses but not live in them;
they will plant vineyards but not drink the wine.”
14The great Day of Adonai is near,
near and coming very quickly;
Hear the sound of the Day of Adonai!
When it’s here, even a warrior will cry bitterly.
15That Day is a Day of fury,
a Day of trouble and distress,
a Day of waste and desolation,
a Day of darkness and gloom,
a Day of clouds and thick fog,
16a Day of the shofar and battle-cry
against the fortified cities
and against the high towers [on the city walls].
17“I will bring such distress on people
that they will grope their way like the blind,
because they have sinned against Adonai.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
and their bowels like dung.
18Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them.
On the day of Adonai’s fury,
the whole land will be destroyed
in the fire of his jealousy.
For he will make an end, a horrible end,
of all those living in the land.”
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