Zephaniah 3:1-7

International Standard Version

3 Woe to this filthy, polluted, and oppressive city!
² It won’t obey anyone.^[a]
It won’t accept discipline.
    It does not trust in the Lord.
        It does not approach God.
³ Its national officials^[b] are roaring lions;
    its judges are like wolves of the night
        that don’t leave the bones for the morning.
⁴ Its prophets are arrogant and treacherous.
    Its priests have contaminated the sanctuary.
        They give perverse interpretations of the Law.^[c]

⁶ “I have destroyed^[e] nations—
    their fortifications are deserted.
I have turned their main thoroughfares into wastelands
    where no one will travel.
Their cities are desolate;
    as a result, not one man remains—
        no, not even a single resident.
⁷ I have said, ‘If only you would fear me,
    if only you would take my instructions to heart.’
        Then their houses would not have been torn down.
I have chastened them,
    but they were eager to corrupt everything they were doing.”