Zephaniah 1
Modern English Version
1 The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
The Great Day of the Lord
2 I will utterly consume all things
on the face of the earth,
says the Lord;
3 I will consume man and beast;
I will consume the birds of the heavens
and the fish of the sea,
and the stumbling blocks with the wicked.
I will cut off man from the face of the land,
says the Lord.
4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah,
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal,
and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,
5 and those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of heaven;
those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord
and yet swear by Milcom;
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who have not sought the Lord nor inquired of Him.
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is at hand;
the Lord has prepared the 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 who clothe themselves
with foreign attire.
9 On that day I will punish
all who step over the threshold,
who fill their masters’ houses
with violence and deceit.
10 On that day, says the Lord,
a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
a wail from the Second Quarter,
and a loud crash from the hills.
11 Wail, you inhabitants of the Mortar!
For all the merchants are cut down;
all those who weigh out silver are cut off.
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
who are settled on their lees,
who say in their heart,
“The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.”
13 Their goods will be plundered,
and their houses laid waste.
Though they build houses,
they will not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards,
they will not drink from their wine.
The Great Day of the Lord
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening quickly.
The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man shall cry out there.
15 That day is a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress,
a day of ruin and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness,
16 a day of trumpet and alarms
against the fortified cities
and against the high towers.
17 I will bring distress on men,
so that they will walk like blind men.
Because they have sinned against the Lord,
their blood will be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to deliver them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath.
But the whole earth will be consumed
by the fire of His jealousy,
for He will make a sudden end
of all those who dwell on the earth.
Zephaniah 1
Authorized (King James) Version
1 The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord.
3 I will consume man and beast;
I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea,
and the stumblingblocks with the wicked;
and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord.
4 I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah,
and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place,
and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;
5 and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops;
and them that worship and that swear by the Lord,
and that swear by Malcham;
6 and them that are turned back from the Lord;
and those that have not sought the Lord, nor enquired for him.
7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God:
for the day of the Lord is at hand:
for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice,
he hath bid his guests.
8 And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,
that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children,
and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.
9 In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold,
which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord,
that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate,
and an howling from the second,
and a great crashing from the hills.
11 Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh,
for all the merchant people are cut down;
all they that bear silver are cut off.
12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles,
and punish the men that are settled on their lees:
that say in their heart,
The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.
13 Therefore their goods shall become a booty,
and their houses a desolation:
they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them;
and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
it is near, and hasteth greatly,
even the voice of the day of the Lord:
the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
15 That day is a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress,
a day of wasteness and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloominess,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 a day of the trumpet and alarm
against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men,
because they have sinned against the Lord:
and their blood shall be poured out as dust,
and their flesh as the dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them
in the day of the Lord’s wrath;
but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy:
for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.