The Great Day of the Lord(A)

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 (B)Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

The Great Day of the Lord

“I will [a]utterly consume everything
From the face of the land,”
Says the Lord;
“I(C) will consume man and beast;
I will consume the birds of the heavens,
The fish of the sea,
And the [b]stumbling blocks along with the wicked.
I will cut off man from the face of the [c]land,”
Says the Lord.

“I will stretch out My hand against Judah,
And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
[d]I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place,
The names of the (D)idolatrous[e] priests with the pagan priests—
Those (E)who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;
Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord,
But who also swear (F)by [f]Milcom;
(G)Those who have turned back from following the Lord,
And (H)have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.”

(I)Be silent in the presence of the Lord God;
(J)For the day of the Lord is at hand,
For (K)the Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
He has [g]invited His guests.

“And it shall be,
In the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,
That I will punish (L)the princes and the king’s children,
And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
In the same day I will punish
All those who (M)leap over the threshold,
Who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.

10 “And there shall be on that day,” says the Lord,
“The sound of a mournful cry from (N)the Fish Gate,
A wailing from the Second Quarter,
And a loud crashing from the hills.
11 (O)Wail, you inhabitants of [h]Maktesh!
For all the merchant people are cut down;
All those who handle money are cut off.

12 “And it shall come to pass at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And punish the men
Who are (P)settled[i] in complacency,
(Q)Who say in their heart,
‘The Lord will not do good,
Nor will He do evil.’
13 Therefore their goods shall become booty,
And their houses a desolation;
They shall build houses, but not inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards, but (R)not drink their wine.”

14 (S)The great day of the Lord is near;
It is near and hastens quickly.
The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter;
There the mighty men shall cry out.
15 (T)That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of devastation and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 A day of (U)trumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities
And against the high towers.

17 “I will bring distress upon men,
And they shall (V)walk like blind men,
Because they have sinned against the Lord;
Their blood shall be poured out like dust,
And their flesh like refuse.”

18 (W)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 will make speedy riddance
Of all those who dwell in the land.

Notas al pie

  1. Zephaniah 1:2 Lit. make a complete end of, Jer. 8:13
  2. Zephaniah 1:3 Idols
  3. Zephaniah 1:3 ground
  4. Zephaniah 1:4 Fulfilled in 2 Kin. 23:4, 5
  5. Zephaniah 1:4 Heb. chemarim
  6. Zephaniah 1:5 Or Malcam, an Ammonite god, 1 Kin. 11:5; Jer. 49:1; Molech, Lev. 18:21
  7. Zephaniah 1:7 Lit. set apart, consecrated
  8. Zephaniah 1:11 A market district of Jerusalem, lit. Mortar
  9. Zephaniah 1:12 Lit. on their lees; like the dregs of wine

Judah’s Impending Judgment

The word of Yahweh that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.

“I will surely destroy everything
    from the face of the earth”—a declaration of Yahweh.
“I will destroy humanity and beast;
    I will destroy the birds of the sky
    and the fish of the sea,
    and the stumbling blocks[a] with the wicked.
And I will cut off humankind
    from the face of the earth”—a declaration of Yahweh.
“And 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 Baal,
    and the name of idolatrous priests with the priests,[b]
and those who bow down on the rooftops
    to the host of heaven,
and those who bow down, swearing to Yahweh
    but also swearing by Milkom,[c]
and those who turned back from following[d] Yahweh,
    and who did not seek Yahweh,
    and did not inquire of him.”
Be silent before the Lord Yahweh,
    for the day of Yahweh draws near,
for Yahweh has provided a sacrifice
    and has consecrated his guests.
And it shall be that on the day of the sacrifice of Yahweh,
I will punish the officials
    and the sons of the king
    and those who dress in foreign clothing.
And on that day I will punish
    all who leap over the threshold,
who fill up the house of their master
    with violence and deceit.
10 “And there shall be on that day”—a declaration of Yahweh—
    “a loud outcry[e] from the Fish Gate,
and a wailing from the Second District,
    and a loud[f] crashing from the hills.
11 The inhabitants of the Mortar shall wail,
    for all the traders have perished;
    all who trade with silver have been cut off.
12 And it shall be that at that time
I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
    whose senses are dulled from drinking,[g]
who say in their hearts,
    ‘Yahweh will not do good, nor will he do evil.’
13 Then their wealth shall be as plunder,
    and their homes as desolation.
And they shall build their houses and not inhabit them,
    and they shall plant vineyards and not drink their wine.”
14 The great day of Yahweh draws near;
    it is near and coming very swiftly.
The sound of the day of Yahweh is bitterness;
    there, a warrior cries out!
15 That day will be a day of wrath,
    a day of trouble and distress,
    a day of disaster and ruination,
    a day of darkness and deep gloom,
    a day of clouds[h] and thick clouds,[i]
16 a day of trumpet and trumpet blast
    against the fortified cities
    and against the high corner towers.
17 And I will bring distress to all humankind,
    and they shall walk about like the blind,
for they sinned against Yahweh;
    their blood shall be poured out like dust
    and their entrails like dung.
18 Moreover, their silver and their gold
    will not be able to save them
    on the day of the wrath of Yahweh.
And in the fire of his zeal,
    the whole land shall be consumed,
for a terrifying end he shall make
    for all the inhabitants of the land.

Notas al pie

  1. Zephaniah 1:3 A reference to idols
  2. Zephaniah 1:4 The last phrase, “with the priests,” may be a later explanatory gloss
  3. Zephaniah 1:5 Or “their king”
  4. Zephaniah 1:6 Literally “after”
  5. Zephaniah 1:10 Literally “voice of a cry of distress”
  6. Zephaniah 1:10 Or “great”
  7. Zephaniah 1:12 Literally “who are thickened with their dregs”
  8. Zephaniah 1:15 Hebrew “cloud”
  9. Zephaniah 1:15 Hebrew “cloud”