Old/New Testament
1 This is the word of the Lord that came through Zephaniah while Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah. Zephaniah was the son of Cushi, who was the son of Gedaliah. Gedaliah was the son of Amariah, who was the son of Hezekiah.
The Lord’s Judgment
2 “I will sweep away everything
from the earth,” says the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away the people and animals;
I will destroy the birds in the air
and the fish of the sea.
I will ruin the evil people,
and I will remove human beings from the earth,” says the Lord.
The Future of Judah
4 “I will punish Judah
and all the people living in Jerusalem.
I will remove from this place
all signs of Baal, the false priests, and the other priests.
5 I will destroy those who worship
the stars from the roofs,[a]
and those who worship and make promises
by both the Lord and the god Molech,
6 and those who turned away from the Lord,
and those who quit following the Lord and praying to him for direction.
7 Be silent before the Lord God,
because the Lord’s day for judging people is coming soon.
The Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
he has made holy his invited guests.
8 On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,
I, the Lord, will punish the princes and the king’s sons
and all those who wear foreign clothes.
9 On that day I will punish those who worship Dagon,
those who hurt others and tell lies in the temples of their gods.
10 “On that day,” says the Lord,
“a cry will be heard at the Fish Gate.
A wail will come from the new area of the city,
and a loud crash will echo from the hills.
11 Cry, you people living in the market area,
because all the merchants will be dead;
all the silver traders will be gone.
12 At that time I, the Lord, will search Jerusalem with lamps.
I will punish those who are satisfied with themselves,
who think, ‘The Lord won’t help us or punish us.’
13 Their wealth will be stolen
and their houses destroyed.
They may build houses,
but they will not live in them.
They may plant vineyards,
but they will not drink any wine from them.
The Lord’s Day of Judging
14 “The Lord’s day of judging is coming soon;
it is near and coming fast.
The cry will be very sad on the day of the Lord;
even soldiers will cry.
15 That day will be a day of anger,
a day of terror and trouble,
a day of destruction and ruin,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness,
16 a day of alarms and battle cries.
‘Attack the strong, walled cities!
Attack the corner towers!’
17 I will make life hard on the people;
they will walk around like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust,
and their insides will be dumped like trash.
18 On the day that God will show his anger,
neither their silver nor gold will save them.
The Lord’s anger will be like a fire
that will burn up the whole world;
suddenly he will bring an end, yes, an end
to everyone on earth.”
The Lord Asks People to Change
2 Gather together, gather,
you unwanted people.
2 Do it before it’s too late,
before you are blown away like chaff,
before the Lord’s terrible anger reaches you,
before the day of the Lord’s anger comes to you.
3 Come to the Lord, all you who are not proud,
who obey his laws.
Do what is right. Learn to be humble.
Maybe you will escape
on the day the Lord shows his anger.
Philistia Will Be Punished
4 No one will be left in the city of Gaza,
and the city of Ashkelon will be destroyed.
Ashdod will be empty by noon,
and the people of Ekron will be chased away.
5 How terrible it will be for you who live by the Mediterranean Sea,
you Philistines!
The word of the Lord is against you,
Canaan, land of the Philistines.
“I will destroy you
so that no one will be left.”
6 The land by the Mediterranean Sea, in which you live,
will become pastures, fields for shepherds, and pens for sheep.
7 It will belong to the descendants of Judah who are left alive.
There they will let their sheep eat grass.
At night they will sleep
in the houses of Ashkelon.
The Lord their God will pay attention to them
and will make their life good again.
Moab and Ammon Will Be Punished
8 “I have heard the insults of the country of Moab
and the threats of the people of Ammon.
They have insulted my people
and have taken their land.”
9 So the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says,
“As surely as I live,
Moab will be destroyed like Sodom,
and Ammon will be destroyed like Gomorrah[b]—
a heap of weeds, a pit of salt,
and a ruin forever.
Those of my people who are left alive will take whatever they want from them;
those who are left from my nation will take their land.”
10 This is what Moab and Ammon get for being proud,
because they insulted and made fun of the people of the Lord All-Powerful.
11 The Lord will frighten them,
because he will destroy all the gods of the earth.
Then everyone in faraway places
will worship him wherever they are.
Cush and Assyria Will Be Destroyed
12 “You Cushites also
will be killed by my sword.”
13 Then the Lord will turn against the north
and destroy Assyria.
He will make Nineveh
a ruin as dry as a desert.
14 Flocks and herds will lie down there,
and all wild animals.
The owls and crows will sit
on the stone pillars.
The owl will hoot through the windows,
trash will be in the doorways,
and the wooden boards of the buildings will be gone.
15 This is the happy and safe city
that thinks there is no one else as strong as it is.
But what a ruin it will be,
a place where wild animals live.
All those who pass by will make fun
and shake their fists.
Jerusalem Will Be Punished
3 How terrible for the wicked, stubborn city of Jerusalem,
which hurts its own people.
2 It obeys no voice;
it can’t be taught to do right.
It doesn’t trust the Lord;
it doesn’t worship its God.
3 Its officers are like roaring lions.
Its rulers are like hungry wolves that attack in the evening,
and in the morning nothing is left of those they attacked.
4 Its prophets are proud;
they are people who cannot be trusted.
Its priests don’t respect holy things;
they break God’s teachings.
5 But the Lord is good, and he is there in that city.
He does no wrong.
Every morning he governs the people fairly;
every day he can be trusted.
But evil people are not ashamed of what they do.
6 “I have destroyed nations;
their towers were ruined.
I made their streets empty
so no one goes there anymore.
Their cities are ruined;
no one lives there at all.
7 I said, ‘Surely now Jerusalem will respect me
and will accept my teaching.’
Then the place where they lived would not be destroyed,
and I would not have to punish them.
But they were still eager
to do evil in everything they did.
8 Just wait,” says the Lord.
“Someday I will stand up as a witness.
I have decided that I will gather nations
and assemble kingdoms.
I will pour out my anger on them,
all my strong anger.
My anger will be like fire
that will burn up the whole world.
A New Day for God’s People
9 “Then I will give the people of all nations pure speech
so that all of them will speak the name of the Lord
and worship me together.
10 People will come from where the Nile River begins;
my scattered people will come with gifts for me.
11 Then Jerusalem will not be ashamed
of the wrongs done against me,
because I will remove from this city
those who like to brag;
there will never be any more proud people
on my holy mountain in Jerusalem.
12 But I will leave in the city
the humble and those who are not proud,
and they will trust in the Lord.
13 Those who are left alive in Israel won’t do wrong or tell lies;
they won’t trick people with their words.
They will eat and lie down
with no one to make them afraid.”
A Happy Song
14 Sing, Jerusalem.
Israel, shout for joy!
Jerusalem, be happy
and rejoice with all your heart.
15 The Lord has stopped punishing you;
he has sent your enemies away.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is with you;
you will never again be afraid of being harmed.
16 On that day Jerusalem will be told,
“Don’t be afraid, city of Jerusalem.
Don’t give up.
17 The Lord your God is with you;
the mighty One will save you.
He will rejoice over you.
You will rest in his love;
he will sing and be joyful about you.”
18 “I will take away the sadness planned for you,
which would have made you very ashamed.
19 At that time I will punish
all those who harmed you.
I will save my people who cannot walk
and gather my people who have been thrown out.
I will give them praise and honor
in every place where they were shamed.
20 At that time I will gather you;
at that time I will bring you back home.
I will give you honor and praise
from people everywhere
when I make things go well again for you,
as you will see with your own eyes,” says the Lord.
The Bowls of God’s Anger
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s anger on the earth.”
2 The first angel left and poured out his bowl on the land. Then ugly and painful sores came upon all those who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his idol.
3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel of the waters saying:
“Holy One, you are the One who is and who was.
You are right to decide to punish these evil people.
6 They have poured out the blood of your holy people and your prophets.
So now you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”
7 And I heard a voice coming from the altar saying:
“Yes, Lord God Almighty,
the way you punish evil people is right and fair.”
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and he was given power to burn the people with fire. 9 They were burned by the great heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these disasters. But the people refused to change their hearts and lives and give glory to God.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and darkness covered its kingdom. People gnawed their tongues because of the pain. 11 They also cursed the God of heaven because of their pain and the sores they had, but they refused to change their hearts and turn away from the evil things they did.
12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates so that the water in the river was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east to come. 13 Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 These evil spirits are the spirits of demons, which have power to do miracles. They go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them together for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
15 “Listen! I will come as a thief comes! Blessed are those who stay awake and keep their clothes on so that they will not walk around naked and have people see their shame.”
16 Then the evil spirits gathered the kings together to the place that is called Armageddon in the Hebrew language.
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. Then a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is finished!” 18 Then there were flashes of lightning, noises, thunder, and a big earthquake—the worst earthquake that has ever happened since people have been on earth. 19 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations were destroyed. And God remembered the sins of Babylon the Great, so he gave that city the cup filled with the wine of his terrible anger. 20 Then every island ran away, and mountains disappeared. 21 Giant hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell from the sky upon people. People cursed God for the disaster of the hail, because this disaster was so terrible.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.