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 Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.[#2Ch 34; Jer 1:2]

The Coming Judgment on Judah

²I will utterly consume all things

on the face of the earth,

says the Lord ;

³I will consume man and beast;

I will consume the birds of the heavens

and the fish of the sea,

and the stumbling blocks with the wicked.

I will cut off man from the face of the land,

says the Lord .

⁴I will stretch out my hand against Judah,

and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal,

and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,

⁵and those who bow down on the roofs

to the host of heaven;

those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord

and yet swear by Milcom;

⁶those who have turned back from following the Lord ,[#Isa 1:4; Jer 2:13]

who have not sought the Lord nor inquired of Him.

⁷Be silent before the Lord God !

For the day of the Lord is at hand;

the Lord has prepared the sacrifice;

He has consecrated His guests.

⁸On the day of the Lord ’s sacrifice,

I will punish the officials

and the king’s sons,

and all who clothe themselves

with foreign attire.

⁹On that day I will punish

all who step over the threshold,

who fill their masters’ houses

with violence and deceit.

¹⁰On that day, says the Lord ,

a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,

a wail from the Second Quarter,

and a loud crash from the hills.

¹¹Wail, you inhabitants of the market district!

For all the merchants are cut down;

all those who weigh out silver are cut off.

¹²At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,

and I will punish the men

who are settled on their dregs,

who say in their heart,

“The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.”

¹³Their goods will be plundered,

and their houses laid waste.

Though they build houses,

they will not inhabit them;

though they plant vineyards,

they will not drink from their wine.

The Great Day of the Lord

¹⁴The great day of the Lord is near,[#Joel 2:11; Zep 1:7]

near and hastening quickly.

The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;

the mighty man shall cry out there.

¹⁵That day is a day of wrath,

a day of trouble and distress,

a day of darkness and gloom,

¹⁶a day of trumpet and alarms

against the fortified cities

and against the high towers.

¹⁷I will bring distress on men,

so that they will walk like blind men.

Because they have sinned against the Lord ,

their blood will be poured out like dust,

and their flesh like dung.

¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold

will be able to deliver them

on the day of the Lord ’s wrath.

But the whole earth will be consumed

by the fire of His jealousy,

for He will make a sudden end

of all those who dwell on the earth.