Zephaniah 1

Judah’s Impending Judgment

¹The word of Yahweh that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.

²“I will surely destroy everything

³“I will destroy humanity and beast;

And I will cut off humankind

⁴“And I will stretch out my hand against Judah

And I will cut off from this place

⁵and those who bow down on the rooftops

and those who bow down, swearing to Yahweh

⁶and those who turned back from following Yahweh,[#Literally “after”]

⁷Be silent before the Lord Yahweh,

for Yahweh has provided a sacrifice

⁸And it shall be that on the day of the sacrifice of Yahweh,

I will punish the officials

⁹And on that day I will punish

who fill up the house of their master

¹⁰“And there shall be on that day”—a declaration of Yahweh—

and a wailing from the Second District,

¹¹The inhabitants of the Mortar shall wail,

¹²And it shall be that at that time

I will search Jerusalem with lamps,

and I will punish the men

who say in their hearts,

¹³Then their wealth shall be as plunder,

And they shall build their houses and not inhabit them,

¹⁴The great day of Yahweh draws near;

The sound of the day of Yahweh is bitterness;

¹⁵That day will be a day of wrath,

¹⁶a day of trumpet and trumpet blast

¹⁷And I will bring distress to all humankind,

for they sinned against Yahweh;

¹⁸Moreover, their silver and their gold

And in the fire of his zeal,

for a terrifying end he shall make