Old Testament · Zephaniah

Zephaniah 1

Zephaniah Prophesies Judgment on Judah

(Matthew 13:36–43)

1The word of the LORD 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.

2I will utterly consume all from off the face of the ground^a, declares the LORD.
3I will consume man^b and beast, I will consume the bird of the heavens and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off the man from off the face of the ground, declares the LORD.
4And I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal, the name of the idolatrous priests with the priests;
5And those who bow down upon the housetops to the host of the heavens, and those who bow down, who swear to the LORD and who swear by Milcom;
6And those who turn back from after the LORD, and who have not sought the LORD and have not inquired of him.

The Day of the LORD

(Malachi 4:1–6; 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11; 2 Peter 3:8–13)

7Hush before the Lord GOD! for near is the day of the LORD; for the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, he has sanctified his called ones.
8And it shall come to pass in the day of the sacrifice of the LORD, that I will visit upon the princes, and upon the sons of the king, and upon all who clothe themselves with foreign clothing.
9And I will visit upon all who leap over the threshold in that day, those who fill the house of their masters with violence and deceit.
10And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the LORD, a voice of an outcry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the Mishneh, and a great crashing from the hills.
11Wail, O inhabitants of the Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are destroyed; all who are laden with silver are cut off.
12And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with the lamps, and I will visit upon the men^c who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, "The LORD will not do good, and he will not do evil."
13And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation; and they shall build houses but not inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards but not drink their wine.
14Near is the great day of the LORD, near and hastening greatly; the voice of the day of the LORD is bitter, there the mighty man cries out.
15A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness,
16a day of the shofar and the trumpet-blast, against the fortified cities and against the high corners.
17And I will bring distress to man, and they shall walk like the blind, because against the LORD they have sinned; and their blood shall be poured out like dust^d, and their flesh like dung.
18Also their silver, also their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD; and in the fire of his jealousy all the earth shall be consumed; for a full end, indeed a sudden one, he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.