Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations

Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled,
    (A)the oppressing city!
She 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.

(D)Her officials within her
    are roaring lions;
her judges are (E)evening wolves
    that leave nothing till the morning.
(F)Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men;
(G)her priests (H)profane what is holy;
    they do violence to the law.
The 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.

(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.
(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.

“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

“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.

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Footnotes

  1. Zephaniah 3:7 Hebrew her
  2. Zephaniah 3:7 Hebrew her

Jerusalem

Woe to the city of oppressors,(A)
    rebellious(B) and defiled!(C)
She obeys(D) no one,
    she accepts no correction.(E)
She does not trust(F) in the Lord,
    she does not draw near(G) to her God.
Her officials within her
    are roaring lions;(H)
her rulers are evening wolves,(I)
    who leave nothing for the morning.(J)
Her prophets are unprincipled;
    they are treacherous people.(K)
Her priests profane the sanctuary
    and do violence to the law.(L)
The Lord within her is righteous;(M)
    he does no wrong.(N)
Morning by morning(O) he dispenses his justice,
    and every new day he does not fail,(P)
    yet the unrighteous know no shame.(Q)

Jerusalem Remains Unrepentant

“I have destroyed nations;
    their strongholds are demolished.
I have left their streets deserted,
    with no one passing through.
Their cities are laid waste;(R)
    they are deserted and empty.
Of Jerusalem I thought,
    ‘Surely you will fear me
    and accept correction!’(S)
Then her place of refuge[a] would not be destroyed,
    nor all my punishments come upon[b] her.
But they were still eager
    to act corruptly(T) in all they did.
Therefore wait(U) for me,”
    declares the Lord,
    “for the day I will stand up to testify.[c]
I have decided to assemble(V) the nations,(W)
    to gather the kingdoms
and to pour out my wrath(X) on them—
    all my fierce anger.(Y)
The whole world will be consumed(Z)
    by the fire of my jealous anger.

Restoration of Israel’s Remnant

“Then I will purify the lips of the peoples,
    that all of them may call(AA) on the name of the Lord(AB)
    and serve(AC) him shoulder to shoulder.

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Footnotes

  1. Zephaniah 3:7 Or her sanctuary
  2. Zephaniah 3:7 Or all those I appointed over
  3. Zephaniah 3:8 Septuagint and Syriac; Hebrew will rise up to plunder

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

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11 On that day you, Jerusalem, will not be put to shame(A)
    for all the wrongs you have done to me,(B)
because I will remove from you
    your arrogant boasters.(C)
Never again will you be haughty
    on my holy hill.(D)
12 But I will leave within you
    the meek(E) and humble.
The remnant of Israel
    will trust(F) in the name of the Lord.
13 They(G) will do no wrong;(H)
    they will tell no lies.(I)
A deceitful tongue
    will not be found in their mouths.(J)
They will eat and lie down(K)
    and no one will make them afraid.(L)

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15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
    he has cleared away your enemies.
(A)The King of Israel, (B)the Lord, is in your midst;
    you shall never again fear evil.

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15 The Lord has taken away your punishment,
    he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;(A)
    never again will you fear(B) any harm.(C)

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The Plot to Kill Jesus

14 (A)It was now two days before (B)the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes (C)were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the feast, (D)lest there be an uproar from the people.”

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

(E)And while he was at (F)Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,[a] as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii[b] and (G)given to the poor.” And they (H)scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For (I)you always have the poor with you, and whenever (J)you want, you can do good for them. But (K)you will not always have me. (L)She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand (M)for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever (N)the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told (O)in memory of her.”

Judas to Betray Jesus

10 (P)Then (Q)Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, (R)went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to (S)betray him.

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 14:3 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
  2. Mark 14:5 A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer

Jesus Anointed at Bethany(A)(B)(C)

14 Now the Passover(D) and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.(E) “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”

While he was in Bethany,(F) reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.(G)

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages[a] and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you,[b] and you can help them any time you want.(H) But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.(I) Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world,(J) what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve,(K) went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.(L) 11 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 14:5 Greek than three hundred denarii
  2. Mark 14:7 See Deut. 15:11.