Zephaniah 1

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

1 The word of the Lord which came to Zephani′ah the son of Cushi, son of Gedali′ah, son of Amari′ah, son of Hezeki′ah, in the days of Josi′ah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

The Coming Judgment on Judah

²“I will utterly sweep away everything
    from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.
³“I will sweep away man and beast;
    I will sweep away the birds of the air
    and the fish of the sea.
I will overthrow^[a] the wicked;
    I will cut off mankind
    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;
and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Ba′al
    and the name of the idolatrous priests;^[b]
⁵those who bow down on the roofs
    to the host of the heavens;
those who bow down and swear to the Lord
    and yet swear by Milcom;
⁶those who have turned back from following the Lord,
    who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”

⁷Be silent before the Lord God!
    For the day of the Lord is at hand;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
    and consecrated his guests.
⁸And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice—
“I will punish the officials and the king’s sons
    and all who array themselves in foreign attire.
⁹On that day I will punish
    every one who leaps over the threshold,
and those who fill their master’s house
    with violence and fraud.”

¹⁰“On that day,” says the Lord,
    “a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
a wail from the Second Quarter,
    a loud crash from the hills.
¹¹Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar!
    For all the traders are no more;
    all who weigh out silver are cut off.
¹²At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
    and I will punish the men
who are thickening upon their lees,
    those who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will not do good,
    nor will he do ill.’
¹³Their goods shall be plundered,
    and their houses laid waste.
Though they build houses,
    they shall not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards,
    they shall not drink wine from them.”

The Great Day of the Lord

¹⁴The great day of the Lord is near,
    near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter,
    the mighty man cries aloud there.
¹⁵A day of wrath is that day,
    a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
    a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
¹⁶    a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
    and against the lofty battlements.

¹⁷I will bring distress on men,
    so that they shall walk like the blind,
    because they have sinned against the Lord;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
    and their flesh like dung.
¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold
    shall be able to deliver them
    on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealous wrath,
    all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full, yea, sudden end
    he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

Footnotes

Zephaniah 1:3 Cn: Heb the stumbling blocks
Zephaniah 1:4 Compare Gk: Heb idolatrous priests with the priests

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.