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Keep silent before the Lord God, for the Day of the Lord is at hand. Yes, the Lord has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated those who will attend it. This is what will take place on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice: I will deal with the officials and the king’s sons and with all those who wear foreign clothing. In the same day I will also deal with all who leap over the threshold,[a] who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.

10 On that day, declares the Lord, there will be crying from the Fish Gate and wailing from the Second Quarter and the sound of a great crashing from the hills. 11 Wail, you who sit in the marketplace,[b] for all the merchants are destroyed. All those who weigh out silver will be cut off.

12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, to deal with the men who are complacent, like wine resting on its dregs, who say in their hearts, “The Lord will not do anything good. Neither will he do anything bad.” 13 Therefore their wealth will become plunder, and their houses a ruin. They will build houses but never live in them. They will plant vineyards, but they will not drink the wine.

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Footnotes

  1. Zephaniah 1:9 Perhaps a reference to the ritual in 1 Samuel 5:5
  2. Zephaniah 1:11 Hebrew in Maktesh. A maktesh is a mortar used for grinding grain or other materials. Here it is the name of the neighborhood where the markets were located.

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[a] from the Fish Gate,
and a wailing from the Second District,
    and a loud[b] 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,[c]
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.”

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Footnotes

  1. Zephaniah 1:10 Literally “voice of a cry of distress”
  2. Zephaniah 1:10 Or “great”
  3. Zephaniah 1:12 Literally “who are thickened with their dregs”