Old/New Testament
Chapter 1
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,[a] in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.
The Day of the Lord: Judgment on Judah
2 I will completely sweep away all things
from the face of the land—oracle of the Lord.
3 I will sweep away human being and beast alike,
I will sweep away the birds of the sky,
and the fish of the sea.
I will make the wicked stumble;
I will eliminate the people
from the face of the land—oracle of the Lord.(A)
4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah,
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
I will eliminate from this place
the last vestige of Baal,
the name of the idolatrous priests.
5 And those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of heaven,[b]
And those who bow down to the Lord
but swear by Milcom;(B)
6 And those who have turned away from the Lord,
and those who have not sought the Lord,
who have not inquired of him.
7 Silence in the presence of the Lord God!
for near is the day of the Lord,
Yes, the Lord has prepared a sacrifice,
he has consecrated his guests.[c](C)
8 On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice
I will punish the officials and the king’s sons,
and all who dress in foreign apparel.
9 I will punish, on that day,
all who leap over the threshold,[d]
Who fill the house of their master
with violence and deceit.
10 On that day—oracle of the Lord—
A cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
a wail from the Second Quarter,[e]
loud crashing from the hills.
11 Wail, O inhabitants of Maktesh!
for all the merchants are destroyed,
all who weigh out silver, done away with.
12 At that time,
I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
I will punish the people
who settle like dregs in wine,[f]
Who say in their hearts,
“The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do harm.”
13 Their wealth shall be given to plunder
and their houses to devastation;
They will build houses,
but not dwell in them;
They will plant vineyards,
but not drink their wine.(D)
14 Near is the great day of the Lord,
near and very swiftly coming.
The sound of the day of the Lord! Piercing—
there a warrior shrieks!
15 A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloom,
a day of thick black clouds,(E)
16 A day of trumpet blasts and battle cries
against fortified cities,
against lofty battlements.(F)
17 I will hem the people in
till they walk like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
And their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their bowels like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them.
On the day of the Lord’s wrath,
in the fire of his passion,
all the earth will be consumed.
For he will make an end, yes, a sudden end,
of all who live on the earth.(G)
Chapter 2
1 [g]Gather, gather yourselves together,
O nation without shame!
2 Before you are driven away,
like chaff that disappears;
Before there comes upon you
the blazing anger of the Lord;
Before there comes upon you
the day of the Lord’s anger.
3 Seek the Lord,
all you humble of the land,
who have observed his law;
Seek justice,
seek humility;
Perhaps you will be sheltered
on the day of the Lord’s anger.(H)
Judgment on the Nations
4 For Gaza shall be forsaken,
and Ashkelon shall be a waste,
Ashdod they shall drive out at midday,
and Ekron[h] shall be uprooted.(I)
5 Ah! You who dwell by the seacoast,
the nation of Cherethites,[i]
the word of the Lord is against you!
O Canaan, land of the Philistines,
I will leave you to perish without an inhabitant!
6 You shall become fields for shepherds,
and folds for flocks.
7 The seacoast shall belong
to the remnant of the house of Judah;
by the sea they shall pasture.
In the houses of Ashkelon
they shall lie down in the evening.
For the Lord their God will take care of them,
and bring about their restoration.
8 I have heard the taunts uttered by Moab,
and the insults of the Ammonites,[j]
When they taunted my people
and made boasts against their territory.(J)
9 Therefore, as I live—
oracle of the Lord of hosts—
the God of Israel,
Moab shall become like Sodom,
the Ammonites like Gomorrah:
A field of weeds,
a salt pit,
a waste forever.
The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
the survivors of my nation dispossess them.
10 This will be the recompense for their pride,
because they taunted and boasted against
the people of the Lord of hosts.
11 The Lord shall inspire them with terror
when he makes all the gods of earth waste away;
Then the distant shores of the nations,
each from its own place,
shall bow down to him.
12 You too, O Cushites,[k]
shall be slain by the sword of the Lord.(K)
13 He will stretch out his hand against the north,
to destroy Assyria;
He will make Nineveh a waste,
dry as the desert.(L)
14 In her midst flocks shall lie down,
all the wild life of the hollows;
The screech owl and the desert owl
shall roost in her columns;
The owl shall hoot from the window,
the raven croak from the doorway.(M)
15 Is this the exultant city[l]
that dwelt secure,
That told itself,
“I and there is no one else”?
How it has become a waste,
a lair for wild animals!
Those who pass by it
hiss, and shake their fists!
Chapter 3
Jerusalem Reproached
1 Ah! Rebellious and polluted,
the tyrannical city![m]
2 It listens to no voice,
accepts no correction;
In the Lord it has not trusted,
nor drawn near to its God.(N)
3 Its officials within it
are roaring lions;
Its judges are desert wolves
that have no bones to gnaw by morning.(O)
4 Its prophets are reckless,
treacherous people;
Its priests profane what is holy,
and do violence to the law.(P)
5 But the Lord in its midst is just,
doing no wrong;
Morning after morning rendering judgment
unfailingly, at dawn;
the wicked, however, know no shame.
6 I have cut down nations,
their battlements are laid waste;
I have made their streets deserted,
with no one passing through;
Their cities are devastated,
with no one dwelling in them.(Q)
7 I said, “Surely now you will fear me,
you will accept correction;
They cannot fail to see
all I have brought upon them.”
Yet the more eagerly they have done
all their corrupt deeds.
The Nations Punished and Jerusalem Restored
8 Therefore, wait for me—oracle of the Lord—
until the day when I arise as accuser;
For it is my decision to gather nations,
to assemble kingdoms,
In order to pour out upon them my wrath,
all my blazing anger;
For in the fire of my passion
all the earth will be consumed.(R)
9 For then I will make pure
the speech of the peoples,
That they all may call upon the name of the Lord,
to serve him with one accord;
10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia
and as far as the recesses of the North,
they shall bring me offerings.
11 On that day
You will not be ashamed
of all your deeds,
when you rebelled against me;
For then I will remove from your midst
the proud braggarts,
And you shall no longer exalt yourself
on my holy mountain.
12 But I will leave as a remnant in your midst
a people humble and lowly,
Who shall take refuge in the name of the Lord—(S)
13 the remnant of Israel.
They shall do no wrong
and speak no lies;
Nor shall there be found in their mouths
a deceitful tongue;
They shall pasture and lie down
with none to disturb them.(T)
14 Shout for joy, daughter Zion!
sing joyfully, Israel!
Be glad and exult with all your heart,
daughter Jerusalem!(U)
15 The Lord has removed the judgment against you,
he has turned away your enemies;
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst,
you have no further misfortune to fear.
16 On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Do not fear, Zion,
do not be discouraged!
17 The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a mighty savior,
Who will rejoice over you with gladness,
and renew you in his love,
Who will sing joyfully because of you,(V)
18 as on festival days.
I will remove disaster from among you,
so that no one may recount your disgrace.
19 At that time I will deal
with all who oppress you;
I will save the lame,
and assemble the outcasts;
I will give them praise and renown
in every land where they were shamed.(W)
20 At that time I will bring you home,
and at that time I will gather you;
For I will give you renown and praise,
among all the peoples of the earth,
When I bring about your restoration
before your very eyes, says the Lord.(X)
Chapter 16
The Seven Bowls.[a] 1 I heard a loud voice speaking from the temple to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s fury upon the earth.”
2 The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth. Festering and ugly sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast or worshiped its image.[b]
3 [c]The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea. The sea turned to blood like that from a corpse; every creature living in the sea died.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water. These also turned to blood.(A) 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just, O Holy One,
who are and who were,
in passing this sentence.(B)
6 For they have shed the blood of the holy ones and the prophets,
and you [have] given them blood to drink;
it is what they deserve.”(C)
7 Then I heard the altar cry out,
“Yes, Lord God almighty,
your judgments are true and just.”(D)
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun. It was given the power to burn people with fire. 9 People were burned by the scorching heat and blasphemed the name of God who had power over these plagues, but they did not repent or give him glory.(E)
10 (F)The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast.[d] Its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and people bit their tongues in pain 11 and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores. But they did not repent of their works.(G)
12 The sixth angel emptied his bowl on the great river Euphrates. Its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.[e] 13 I saw three unclean spirits like frogs[f] come from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet.(H) 14 These were demonic spirits who performed signs. They went out to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for the battle on the great day of God the almighty.(I) 15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief.”[g] Blessed is the one who watches and keeps his clothes ready, so that he may not go naked and people see him exposed.)(J) 16 They then assembled the kings in the place that is named Armageddon[h] in Hebrew.
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.”(K) 18 Then there were lightning flashes, rumblings, and peals of thunder, and a great earthquake. It was such a violent earthquake that there has never been one like it since the human race began on earth.(L) 19 The great city[i] was split into three parts, and the gentile cities fell. But God remembered great Babylon, giving it the cup filled with the wine of his fury and wrath. 20 [j]Every island fled, and mountains disappeared. 21 Large hailstones like huge weights came down from the sky on people, and they blasphemed God for the plague of hail because this plague was so severe.(M)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.