Zephaniah 3

English Standard Version

Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations

3 Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled,
    ^(A)the oppressing city!
²She listens to no voice;
    ^(B)she accepts no correction.
^(C)She does not trust in the Lord;
    she does not draw near to her God.

³^(D)Her officials within her
    are roaring lions;
her judges are ^(E)evening wolves
    that leave nothing till the morning.
⁴^(F)Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men;
^(G)her priests ^(H)profane what is holy;
    they do violence to the law.
⁵The Lord within her ^(I)is righteous;
    he does no injustice;
every morning he shows forth his justice;
    each dawn he does not fail;
    but ^(J)the unjust knows no shame.

⁶^(K)“I have cut off nations;
    their battlements are in ruins;
I have laid waste their streets
    ^(L)so that no one walks in them;
their cities have been made desolate,
    without a man, without an inhabitant.
⁷^(M)I said, ‘Surely you will fear me;
    ^(N)you will accept correction.
Then your^[a] dwelling would not be cut off
    according to all that I have appointed against you.’^[b]
But ^(O)all the more they were eager
    to make all their deeds corrupt.

⁸“Therefore ^(P)wait for me,” declares the Lord,
    “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.
For my decision is ^(Q)to gather nations,
    to assemble kingdoms,
to pour out upon them my indignation,
    all my burning anger;
for in the fire of my jealousy
    ^(R)all the earth shall be consumed.

The Conversion of the Nations

⁹“For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples
    to ^(S)a pure speech,
that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord
    and serve him with one accord.
¹⁰^(T)From beyond the rivers ^(U)of Cush
    my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones,
    shall bring my offering.

¹¹^(V)“On that day ^(W)you shall not be put to shame
    because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;
for then ^(X)I will remove from your midst
    your proudly exultant ones,
and ^(Y)you shall no longer be haughty
    in my holy mountain.
¹²But I will leave in your midst
    a people ^(Z)humble and lowly.
^(AA)They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord,
¹³    ^(AB)those who are left in Israel;
they ^(AC)shall do no injustice
    and speak no lies,
^(AD)nor shall there be found in their mouth
    a deceitful tongue.
^(AE)For they shall graze and lie down,
    and none shall make them afraid.”

Israel's Joy and Restoration

¹⁴^(AF)Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
    shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
    O daughter of Jerusalem!
¹⁵The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
    he has cleared away your enemies.
^(AG)The King of Israel, ^(AH)the Lord, is in your midst;
    you shall never again fear evil.
¹⁶^(AI)On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
    ^(AJ)let not your hands grow weak.
¹⁷^(AK)The Lord your God is in your midst,
    ^(AL)a mighty one who will save;
^(AM)he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
¹⁸I will gather those of you who mourn ^(AN)for the festival,
    so that you will no longer suffer reproach.^[c]
¹⁹Behold, at that time ^(AO)I will deal
    with all your oppressors.
And ^(AP)I will save the lame
    and gather the outcast,
and I will change ^(AQ)their shame into ^(AR)praise
    and renown in all the earth.
²⁰^(AS)At that time I will bring you in,
    at the time when I gather you together;
for I will make you renowned and praised
    among all the peoples of the earth,
^(AT)when I restore your fortunes
    before your eyes,” says the Lord.

Footnotes

Zephaniah 3:7 Hebrew her
Zephaniah 3:7 Hebrew her
Zephaniah 3:18 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

Zechariah 1

English Standard Version

A Call to Return to the Lord

1 In the eighth month, ^(A)in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^(B)Zechariah, the son of ^(C)Berechiah, son of ^(D)Iddo, saying, ²^(E)“The Lord was very angry with your fathers. ³Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: ^(F)Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and ^(G)I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. ⁴^(H)Do not be like your fathers, ^(I)to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^(J)Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But ^(K)they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. ⁵Your fathers, where are they? And ^(L)the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶^(M)But my words and my statutes, which I commanded ^(N)my servants the prophets, did they not ^(O)overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, ^(P)‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for ^(Q)our ways and ^(R)deeds, so has he dealt with us.’”

A Vision of a Horseman

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^(S)Zechariah, the son of ^(T)Berechiah, son of ^(U)Iddo, saying, ⁸“I saw in the night, and behold, ^(V)a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were ^(W)red, sorrel, and white horses. ⁹Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ ^(X)The angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ ¹⁰So ^(Y)the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ^(Z)‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to ^(AA)patrol the earth.’ ¹¹And they answered ^(AB)the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, ^(AC)‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth ^(AD)remains at rest.’ ¹²Then ^(AE)the angel of the Lord said, ^(AF)‘O Lord of hosts, ^(AG)how long will you ^(AH)have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these ^(AI)seventy years?’ ¹³And the Lord answered ^(AJ)gracious and comforting words to ^(AK)the angel who talked with me. ¹⁴So ^(AL)the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(AM)I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. ¹⁵^(AN)And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are ^(AO)at ease; ^(AP)for while I was angry but a little, ^(AQ)they furthered the disaster. ¹⁶Therefore, thus says the Lord, ^(AR)I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; ^(AS)my house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and ^(AT)the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. ¹⁷Cry out again, Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(AU)My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, ^(AV)and the Lord will again comfort Zion and again ^(AW)choose Jerusalem.’”

A Vision of Horns and Craftsmen

¹⁸^[a] And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, ^(AX)four horns! ¹⁹And I said to ^(AY)the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, ^(AZ)“These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” ²⁰Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. ²¹And I said, “What are these coming to do?” He said, ^(BA)“These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these have come ^(BB)to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations ^(BC)who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”