Zephaniah 1
Common English Bible
1 The Lord’s word that came to Zephaniah, Cushi’s son, Gedaliah’s grandson, Amariah’s great-grandson, and Hezekiah’s great-great-grandson in the days of Judah’s King Josiah, Amon’s son.
Judgment on the world and Judah
2 I will wipe out everything from the earth, says the Lord.
3 I will destroy humanity and the beasts;
I will destroy the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea.
I will make the wicked into a heap of ruins;
I will eliminate humanity from the earth, says the Lord.
4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
I will eliminate what’s left of Baal from this place
and the names of the priests of foreign gods,[a]
5 those bowing down to the forces of heaven on the rooftops,
those swearing by the Lord along with those swearing by Milcom,
6 those turning away from the Lord,
those who don’t seek the Lord and don’t pursue him.
The day of the Lord
7 Hush before the Lord God,
for the day of the Lord is near!
The Lord has established a sacrifice;
he has made holy those he has summoned.
8 On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,
I will punish the princes, the king’s sons,
and all those wearing foreign clothes.
9 I will punish the one leaping on the threshold on that day,
those filling the house of their master with violence and deceit.
10 On that day—says the Lord—
an outcry will resound from the Fish Gate,
wailing from the second quarter,
a loud crash from the hills.
11 The ones who grind the grain[b] will wail;
all the merchants will be silenced.
I will eliminate all those weighing out silver.
12 At that time, I will search Jerusalem with lamps;
I will punish the men growing fat on the sediment in their wine,
those saying to themselves, The Lord won’t do good or evil.
13 Their wealth will be looted and their houses destroyed.
They will rebuild houses, but not live in them;
they will plant vineyards, but not drink the wine.
14 The great day of the Lord is near;
it is near and coming very quickly.
The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter.
A warrior screams there.
15 That day is a day of fury,
a day of distress and anxiety,
a day of desolation and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloominess,
a day of clouds and deep darkness,
16 a day for blowing the trumpet and alarm against their invincible cities
and against their high towers.
17 I will make humanity suffer;
they will walk like the blind
because they sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
and their intestines like manure.
18 Moreover, their silver and their gold won’t be able to deliver them
on the day of the Lord’s fury.
His jealousy will devour the entire land with fire;
he will make an end,
a truly horrible one,
for all the inhabitants of the land.
Footnotes
- Zephaniah 1:4 Or the name of the priests of foreign gods along with the priests
- Zephaniah 1:11 Or keeper of the mortar
Zephaniah 1
Contemporary English Version
1 (A) I am Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the grandson of Gedaliah, the great-grandson of Amariah, and the great-great-grandson of Hezekiah.[a]
When Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah,[b] the Lord gave me this message.
Judgment on Judah
2 I, the Lord, now promise
to destroy everything
on this earth—
3 people and animals,
birds and fish.
Everyone who is evil
will crash to the ground,[c]
and I will wipe out
the entire human race.
4 I will reach out to punish
Judah and Jerusalem—
nothing will remain
of the god Baal;[d]
nothing will be remembered
of his pagan priests.
5 Not a trace will be found
of those who worship stars
from their rooftops,
or bow down to the god Milcom,[e]
while claiming loyalty
to me, the Lord.
6 Nothing will remain of anyone
who has turned away
and rejected me.
7 Be silent! I am the Lord God,
and the time is near.
I am preparing
to sacrifice my people
and to invite my guests.
8 On that day I will punish
national leaders
and sons of the king,
along with all who follow
foreign customs.[f]
9 I will punish worshipers
of pagan gods[g]
and cruel palace officials
who abuse their power.
10 I, the Lord, promise
that on that day
noisy crying will be heard
from Fish Gate, New Town,
and Upper Hills.
11 Everyone in Lower Hollow[h]
will mourn loudly,
because merchants
and money changers
will be wiped out.
12 I'll search Jerusalem with lamps
and punish those people
who sit there unworried
while thinking,
“The Lord won't do anything,
good or bad.”
13 Their possessions will be taken,
their homes left in ruins.
They won't get to live
in the houses they build,
or drink wine from the grapes
in their own vineyards.
A Terrible Day
14 The great day of the Lord
is coming soon, very soon.
On that terrible day,
fearsome shouts of warriors
will be heard everywhere.
15 It will be a time of anger—
of trouble and torment,
of disaster and destruction,
of darkness and despair,
of storm clouds and shadows,
16 of trumpet calls
and battle cries
against fortified cities
and mighty fortresses.
17 The Lord warns everyone
who has sinned against him,
“I'll strike you blind!
Then your blood and your insides
will gush out like vomit.
18 Not even your silver or gold
can save you on that day
when I, the Lord, am angry.
My anger will flare up
like a furious fire
scorching the earth
and everyone on it.”
Footnotes
- 1.1 Hezekiah: Ruled 716–687 b.c.
- 1.1 Josiah … king of Judah: Ruled 640–609 b.c.
- 1.3 Everyone … ground: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 1.4 Baal: A Canaanite fertility god.
- 1.5 Milcom: An Ammonite fertility god.
- 1.8 follow foreign customs: Hebrew “wear foreign clothes.”
- 1.9 worshipers … gods: The Hebrew text has “all who jump over the threshold,” which was a Philistine religious practice (see 1 Samuel 5.5).
- 1.10,11 Fish Gate, New Town, and Upper Hills … Lower Hollow: Names for different sections of Jerusalem: Fish Gate was probably the main gate on the north side of the city; New Town was a newer section; Upper Hills may have been a suburb north of the city; Lower Hollow was probably on the southern edge of town.
Zephaniah 1
Living Bible
1 Subject: a message from the Lord.
To: Zephaniah (son of Cushi, grandson of Gedaliah, great-grandson of Amariah, and great-great-grandson of Hezekiah). When: During the reign of Josiah (son of Amon) king of Judah.[a]
2 “I will sweep away everything in all your land,” says the Lord. “I will destroy it to the ground. 3 I will sweep away both men and animals alike. Mankind and all the idols that he worships—all will vanish. Even the birds of the air and the fish in the sea will perish. 4 I will crush Judah and Jerusalem with my fist and destroy every remnant of those who worship Baal; I will put an end to their idolatrous priests, so that even the memory of them will disappear. 5 They go up on their roofs and bow to the sun, moon, and stars. They ‘follow the Lord,’ but worship Molech too! I will destroy them. 6 And I will destroy those who formerly worshiped the Lord, but now no longer do, and those who never loved him and never wanted to.”
7 Stand in silence in the presence of the Lord. For the awesome Day of his Judgment has come; he has prepared a great slaughter of his people and has chosen their executioners.[b] 8 “On that Day of Judgment I will punish the leaders and princes of Judah and all others wearing heathen clothing.[c] 9 Yes, I will punish those who follow heathen customs and who rob and kill to fill their masters’ homes with evil gain of violence and fraud. 10 A cry of alarm will begin at the farthest gate of Jerusalem, coming closer and closer until the noise of the advancing army reaches the very top of the hill where the city is built.
11 “Wail in sorrow, you people of Jerusalem. All your greedy businessmen, all your loan sharks—all will die.
12 “I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem’s darkest corners to find and punish those who sit contented in their sins, indifferent to God, thinking he will leave them alone. 13 They are the very ones whose property will be plundered by the enemy, whose homes will be ransacked; they will never have a chance to live in the new homes they have built. They will never drink wine from the vineyards they have planted.
14 “That terrible day is near. Swiftly it comes—a day when strong men will weep bitterly. 15 It is a day of the wrath of God poured out; it is a day of terrible distress and anguish, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, of clouds, blackness, 16 trumpet calls, and battle cries; down go the walled cities and strongest battlements!
17 “I will make you as helpless as a blind man searching for a path because you have sinned against the Lord; therefore, your blood will be poured out into the dust and your bodies will lie there rotting on the ground.”
18 Your silver and gold will be of no use to you in that day of the Lord’s wrath. You cannot ransom yourselves with it.[d] For the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. He will make a speedy riddance of all the people of Judah.
Footnotes
- Zephaniah 1:1 The Great Revival under King Josiah followed about ten years after this prophecy, and then, a dozen years later, the deportation and exile. The prophet Jeremiah was active during this same period.
- Zephaniah 1:7 has chosen their executioners, literally, “has prepared a sacrifice and sanctified his guests.”
- Zephaniah 1:8 wearing heathen clothing, i.e., showing their desire for foreign gods and foreign ways and their contempt for the Lord.
- Zephaniah 1:18 You cannot ransom yourselves with it, implied.
Zephaniah 1
Easy-to-Read Version
1 This is the message that the Lord gave to Zephaniah. He received this message during the time that Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah. Zephaniah was the son of Cushi, who was the son of Gedaliah. Gedaliah was the son of Amariah, who was the son of Hezekiah.
The Lord’s Day for Judging the People
2 The Lord says, “I will destroy everything on earth.[a] 3 I will destroy all the people and all the animals. I will destroy the birds in the air and the fish in the sea. I will destroy the evil people and everything that makes them sin. I will remove all people from the earth.” This is what the Lord said.
4 “I will punish Judah and the people living in Jerusalem. I will remove from this place any signs of Baal worship. No one will remember the priests who serve the idols there. 5 And those who go up on their roofs to worship the stars[b] will be forgotten. They worship me, the Lord, but they also use the name of the false god Milcom to make promises. 6 They have turned away from me, the Lord. They have stopped following me. They no longer ask me, the Lord, for help.”
7 Be silent before the Lord God, because the Lord’s day for judging the people is coming soon. The Lord has prepared his sacrifice, and he has told his invited guests to get ready.[c]
8 The Lord said, “On the Lord’s day of sacrifice, I will punish the king’s sons and other leaders. I will punish all the people wearing clothes from other countries. 9 At that time I will punish all the people who jump over the threshold[d] and those who fill their master’s house[e] with lies and violence.”
10 The Lord also said, “At that time people will be calling for help at Fish Gate in Jerusalem and mourning in the new part of town. They will hear the sound of destruction in the hills around the city. 11 You people living in the lower part of town will cry, because all the traders and rich merchants will be destroyed.
12 “At that time I will take a lamp and search through Jerusalem. I will find all those who are satisfied to live their own way. They say, ‘The Lord does nothing. He does not help, and he does not hurt!’ I will find them, and I will punish them. 13 Then others will take their wealth and destroy their houses. Those who built houses will not live in them, and those who planted vineyards will not drink the wine from the grapes.”
14 The Lord’s special day for judging is coming soon! It is near and coming fast. People will hear very sad sounds on the Lord’s special day of judgment. Even strong soldiers will cry. 15 The Lord will show his anger at that time. It will be a time of terrible troubles and a time of destruction. It will be a time of darkness—a black, cloudy, and stormy day. 16 It will be like a time of war when people hear horns and trumpets in the defense towers and protected cities.
17 The Lord said, “I will make life very hard on the people. They will walk around like the blind who don’t know where they are going. That will happen because they sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be spilled on the ground. Their dead bodies will lie like dung on the ground. 18 Their gold and silver will not help them! At that time the Lord will become very upset and angry. The Lord will destroy the whole world[f]! He will completely destroy everyone on earth!”
Footnotes
- Zephaniah 1:2 earth Or “the land” or “the country.” Also in verse 18.
- Zephaniah 1:5 stars Literally, “army of heaven.” This might mean the stars and planets or the angels.
- Zephaniah 1:7 prepared … get ready Literally, “prepared his sacrifice. He has made his called ones holy.” Here, this time of judgment is compared to a fellowship meal when priests offered a sacrifice to God and had the guests get ready for this special meal with God.
- Zephaniah 1:9 people wearing … threshold This probably means the priests and people who worshiped foreign gods, such as Dagon, or people who copied their ways of worshiping. See 1 Sam. 5:5.
- Zephaniah 1:9 master’s house This means the temple where the people worshiped God or their false gods.
- Zephaniah 1:18 world Or “land” or “country.”
Zephaniah 1
New Living Translation
1 The Lord gave this message to Zephaniah when Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah. Zephaniah was the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah.
Coming Judgment against Judah
2 “I will sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away people and animals alike.
I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish in the sea.
I will reduce the wicked to heaps of rubble,[a]
and I will wipe humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.
4 “I will crush Judah and Jerusalem with my fist
and destroy every last trace of their Baal worship.
I will put an end to all the idolatrous priests,
so that even the memory of them will disappear.
5 For they go up to their roofs
and bow down to the sun, moon, and stars.
They claim to follow the Lord,
but then they worship Molech,[b] too.
6 And I will destroy those who used to worship me
but now no longer do.
They no longer ask for the Lord’s guidance
or seek my blessings.”
7 Stand in silence in the presence of the Sovereign Lord,
for the awesome day of the Lord’s judgment is near.
The Lord has prepared his people for a great slaughter
and has chosen their executioners.[c]
8 “On that day of judgment,”
says the Lord,
“I will punish the leaders and princes of Judah
and all those following pagan customs.
9 Yes, I will punish those who participate in pagan worship ceremonies,
and those who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
10 “On that day,” says the Lord,
“a cry of alarm will come from the Fish Gate
and echo throughout the New Quarter of the city.[d]
And a great crash will sound from the hills.
11 Wail in sorrow, all you who live in the market area,[e]
for all the merchants and traders will be destroyed.
12 “I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem’s darkest corners
to punish those who sit complacent in their sins.
They think the Lord will do nothing to them,
either good or bad.
13 So their property will be plundered,
their homes will be ransacked.
They will build new homes
but never live in them.
They will plant vineyards
but never drink wine from them.
14 “That terrible day of the Lord is near.
Swiftly it comes—
a day of bitter tears,
a day when even strong men will cry out.
15 It will be a day when the Lord’s anger is poured out—
a day of terrible distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness,
16 a day of trumpet calls and battle cries.
Down go the walled cities
and the strongest battlements!
17 “Because you have sinned against the Lord,
I will make you grope around like the blind.
Your blood will be poured into the dust,
and your bodies will lie rotting on the ground.”
18 Your silver and gold will not save you
on that day of the Lord’s anger.
For the whole land will be devoured
by the fire of his jealousy.
He will make a terrifying end
of all the people on earth.[f]
Footnotes
- 1:3 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
- 1:5 Hebrew Malcam, a variant spelling of Molech; or it could possibly mean their king.
- 1:7 Hebrew has prepared a sacrifice and sanctified his guests.
- 1:10 Or the Second Quarter, a newer section of Jerusalem. Hebrew reads the Mishneh.
- 1:11 Or in the valley, a lower section of Jerusalem. Hebrew reads the Maktesh.
- 1:18 Or the people living in the land.
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The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
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