Zephaniah 1
1
1The 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 #2 Kin. 22:1, 2; 2 Chr. 34:1–33; Jer. 1:2; 22:11Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
The Great Day of the Lord
2“I will utterly consume everything
From the face of the land,”
Says the Lord;
3“I#Hos. 4:3 will consume man and beast;
I will consume the birds of the heavens,
The fish of the sea,
And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked.
I will cut off man from the face of the land,”
Says the Lord.
4“I will stretch out My hand against Judah,
And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place,
The names of the #2 Kin. 23:5; Hos. 10:5idolatrous priests with the pagan priests—
5Those #2 Kin. 23:12; Jer. 19:13who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;
Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord,
But who also swear #Josh. 23:7by Milcom;
6#Is. 1:4; Jer. 2:13Those who have turned back from following the Lord,
And #Hos. 7:7have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.”
7#Hab. 2:20; Zech. 2:13Be silent in the presence of the Lord God;
#Is. 13:6For the day of the Lord is at hand,
For #Deut. 28:26; Is. 34:6; Jer. 46:10; Ezek. 39:17–19the Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
He has invited His guests.
8“And it shall be,
In the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,
That I will punish #Jer. 39:6the princes and the king’s children,
And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
9In the same day I will punish
All those who #1 Sam. 5:5leap over the threshold,
Who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
10“And there shall be on that day,” says the Lord,
“The sound of a mournful cry from #2 Chr. 33:14; Neh. 3:3; 12:39the Fish Gate,
A wailing from the Second Quarter,
And a loud crashing from the hills.
11#James 5:1Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh!
For all the merchant people are cut down;
All those who handle money are cut off.
12“And it shall come to pass at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And punish the men
Who are #Jer. 48:11; Amos 6:1settled in complacency,
#Ps. 94:7Who say in their heart,
‘The Lord will not do good,
Nor will He do evil.’
13Therefore their goods shall become booty,
And their houses a desolation;
They shall build houses, but not inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards, but #Deut. 28:39not drink their wine.”
14#Jer. 30:7; Joel 2:1, 11The great day of the Lord is near;
It is near and hastens quickly.
The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter;
There the mighty men shall cry out.
15#Is. 22:5That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of devastation and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
16A day of #Is. 27:13; Jer. 4:19trumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities
And against the high towers.
17“I will bring distress upon men,
And they shall #Deut. 28:29walk like blind men,
Because they have sinned against the Lord;
Their blood shall be poured out like dust,
And their flesh like refuse.”
18#Ezek. 7:19Neither their silver nor their gold
Shall be able to deliver them
In the day of the Lord’s wrath;
But the whole land shall be devoured
By the fire of His jealousy,
For He will make speedy riddance
Of all those who dwell in the land.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.