Chapter 1
1 This is the word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days when Josiah, the son of Amon, was king of Judah.
I Extend My Hand over Judah
2 I will completely sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,
says the Lord.
3 I will sweep away both men and animals,
the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.
I will force the wicked to their knees
and wipe out all people from the face of the earth,
says the Lord.
4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
I will wipe out from this place every remnant of Baal,
the very name of his idolatrous priests:
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to worship the host of the heavens,
and those who prostrate themselves before the Lord
but swear by Milcom,
6 and those who have turned their backs on the Lord,
and those who do not seek him.
7 Keep silent in the presence of the Lord God,
for the day of the Lord is near.
The Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
he has consecrated his guests.
8 On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,
I will punish the officials and the king’s sons,
and all those who clothe themselves in foreign apparel.
9 On that day I will punish
all who leap over the threshold[a]
and fill the house of their master
with violence and deceit.
10 [b]On that day, says the Lord,
crying will be heard from the Fish Gate,
wailing from the New Quarter,
a loud crash from the hills.
11 Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar,
for all the merchants will perish,
and all those who weigh out silver will be ruined.
12 At that time
I will search Jerusalem by lantern-light
and punish all those people
who have become complacent,
like wine thickening in its sediment,
and who say in their hearts,
“The Lord will do nothing,
either good or bad.”
13 As a result, their wealth will be plundered
and their houses will lie in ruins.
Though they build houses,
they will not dwell in them;
though they plant vineyards,
they will not drink their wine.
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and coming quickly.
The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter
when the warrior shouts his cry of war.
15 That day is a day of wrath,
a day of anguish and distress,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and heavy darkness,
16 a day of trumpet blasts and battle cries
against the fortified cities
and against lofty battlements.
17 I will bring such dire distress on the people
that they will walk like the blind
because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
and their entrails like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath,
when by the fire of his jealousy
the entire earth will be consumed.
For he will make a sudden and terrible end
of all who dwell on the earth.
Footnotes
- Zephaniah 1:9 Over the threshold: the avoidance of stepping on the threshold is probably connected with the “rite of the threshold”: that is, of entering and leaving the temple without setting one’s foot on the threshold.
- Zephaniah 1:10 Fish Gate: this gate led to the new sections of Jerusalem. Mortar: in all probability, a quarter in the lower part of the city. Coins were not in use at this time, and money was calculated by weight. But the alternative was always there: God or money (see Mt 6:24).