Zephaniah 1:1-18
1 The word of Jehovah that occurred to Zeph·a·niʹah the son of Cushʹi the son of Ged·a·liʹah the son of Am·a·riʹah the son of Hez·e·kiʹah in the days of Jo·siʹah+ the son of Aʹmon+ the king of Judah:
2 “I shall without fail finish everything off the surface of the ground,” is the utterance of Jehovah.+
3 “I shall finish off earthling man and beast.+ I shall finish off the flying creature of the heavens and the fishes of the sea,+ and the stumbling blocks with the wicked ones;+ and I will cut off mankind* from the surface of the ground,”+ is the utterance of Jehovah.*
4 “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 remaining ones of the Baʹal,*+ the name of the foreign-god priests* along with the priests,+
5 and those who are bowing down upon the roofs to the army of the heavens,+ and those who are bowing down,+ making sworn oaths to Jehovah+ and making sworn oaths by Malʹcam;*+
6 and those who are drawing back from following Jehovah+ and who have not sought Jehovah and have not inquired of him.”+
7 Keep silence before the Sovereign Lord Jehovah;+ for the day of Jehovah is near,+ for Jehovah has prepared a sacrifice;+ he has sanctified+ his invited ones.
8 “And it must occur on the day of Jehovah’s sacrifice that I will give attention to the princes, and to the sons of the king,+ and to all those wearing foreign attire.+
9 And I will give attention to everyone that is climbing upon the platform* in that day, those who are filling the house of their masters* with violence and deception.+
10 And there must occur on that day,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “the sound of an outcry from the Fish Gate,+ and a howling from the second quarter,+ and a great crashing from the hills.+
11 Howl,+ YOU inhabitants of Makʹtesh,* for all the people who are tradesmen have been silenced;+ all those weighing out silver have been cut off.
12 “And it must occur at that time that I shall carefully search Jerusalem with lamps,+ and I will give attention to the men* who are congealing upon their dregs+ [and] who are saying in their heart, ‘Jehovah will not do good, and he will not do bad.’+
13 And their wealth must come to be for pillage and their houses for a desolate waste.+ And they will build houses, but they will not have occupancy;+ and they will plant vineyards, but they will not drink the wine of them.+
14 “The great day+ of Jehovah* is near.+ It is near, and there is a hurrying [of it] very much.+ The sound of the day of Jehovah is bitter.+ There a mighty man* is letting out a cry.+
15 That day is a day of fury, a day of distress and of anguish,+ a day of storm and of desolation, a day of darkness and of gloominess,+ a day of clouds and of thick gloom,
16 a day of horn* and of alarm signal,+ against the fortified cities and against the high corner towers.+
17 And I will cause distress to mankind,* and they will certainly walk like blind men;+ because it is against Jehovah that they have sinned.+ And their blood will actually be poured out like dust,+ and their bowels like the dung.+
18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’s fury;+ but by the fire of his zeal the whole earth* will be devoured,+ because he will make an extermination, indeed a terrible one,* of all the inhabitants of the earth.”+
Footnotes
^ “Mankind.” Heb., ha·ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ See App 1C §2.
^ “The Baal.” Heb., hab·Baʹʽal, the name of the false god; Gr. and Lat., Baʹal.
^ “The foreign-god priests.” Heb., hak·kema·rimʹ; Vg, “temple keepers.”
^ “By Malcam.” Heb., beMal·kamʹ; Syr., beMal·kum; Vg, “by Melchom”; LXX, “by their king.”
^ Or, “podium”; or, “threshold.” Possibly, the platform, or dais, of the king’s throne.
^ Lit., “the Mortar.” Heb., ham·Makh·teshʹ. Apparently a section of Jerusalem in the upper portion of the Central (or, Tyropoeon) Valley near the Fish Gate and the second quarter.
^ “The men.” Heb., ha·ʼana·shimʹ, pl. of ʼish.
^ See App 1C §2.
^ Or, “shofar.” Heb., shoh·pharʹ.
^ Or, “to earthling men.” Heb., la·ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ Or, “all the land.” Heb., kol-ha·ʼaʹrets.
^ Or, “indeed a sudden terror,” by a correction.
