1 The word of theLordwhich came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days ofJosiah 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 theLord;
3 “Iwill 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 theLord.
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 theidolatrous priests with thepaganpriests—
5 Thosewho worship the host of heaven on the housetops;
Those who worship and swearoathsby theLord,
# But whoalsoswearby Milcom;
6 Those who have turned back fromfollowingtheLord,
# Andhave not sought theLord, nor inquired of Him.”
7 Be silent in the presence of the LordGod;
# For the day of theLordisat hand,
# FortheLordhas prepared a sacrifice;
He has invited His guests.
8 “And it shall be,
In the day of theLord’s sacrifice,
# That I will punishthe princes and the king’s children,
And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
9 In the same day I will punish
# All those wholeap over the threshold,
Who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
10 “And there shall be on that day,” says theLord,
# “The sound of a mournful cry fromthe Fish Gate,
A wailing from the Second Quarter,
And a loud crashing from the hills.
11 Wail, 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
ThatI will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And punish the men
# Who aresettled in complacency,
# Who say in their heart,
‘TheLordwill not do good,
Nor will He do evil.’
13 Therefore their goods shall become booty,
And their houses a desolation;
They shall build houses, but not inhabitthem;
# They shall plant vineyards, butnot drink their wine.”
14 The great day of theLordisnear;
Itisnear and hastens quickly.
The noise of the day of theLordis bitter;
There the mighty men shall cry out.
15 That dayisa 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,
16 A day oftrumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities
And against the high towers.
17 “I will bring distress upon men,
# And they shallwalk like blind men,
Because they have sinned against theLord;
Their blood shall be poured out like dust,
And their flesh like refuse.”
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
Shall be able to deliver them
In the day of theLord’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.