[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, in the days of
Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah. [2] I will take away everything
from the face of the earth, says the Lord. [3] I will take away man and
beast; I will take away the birds of the heaven and the fishes of the sea;
causing the downfall of the evil-doers, and cutting man off from the face
of the earth, says the Lord. [4] And my hand will be stretched out on Judah
and on all the people of Jerusalem, cutting off the name of the Baal from
this place, and the name of the false priests, [5] And the worshippers of
the army of heaven on the house-tops, and the Lord's worshippers who take
oaths by Milcom, [6] And those who are turned back from going after the
Lord, and those who have not made prayer to the Lord or got directions from
him. [7] Let there be no sound before the Lord God: for the day of the Lord
is near: for the Lord has made ready an offering, he has made his guests
holy. [8] And it will come about in the day of the Lord's offering, that I
will send punishment on the rulers and the king's sons and all who are
clothed in robes from strange lands. [9] And in that day I will send
punishment on all those who come jumping over the doorstep and make their
master's house full of violent behaviour and deceit. [10] And in that day,
says the Lord, there will be the sound of a cry from the fish doorway, and
an outcry from the new town, and a great thundering from the hills, and
cries of grief from the people of the Hollow; [11] Because of the downfall
of all the people of Canaan: all those who were weighted down with silver
have been cut off. [12] And it will come about at that time, that I will go
searching through Jerusalem with lights; and I will send punishment on the
men who have become like wine stored over-long, who say to themselves, The
Lord will not do good and will not do evil. [13] And their wealth will be
violently taken away, and their houses will be made waste: they will go on
building houses and never living in them, and planting vine-gardens but not
drinking the wine from them. [14] The great day of the Lord is near, it is
near and coming very quickly; the bitter day of the Lord is near, coming on
more quickly than a man of war. [15] That day is a day of wrath, a day of
trouble and sorrow, a day of wasting and destruction, a day of dark night
and deep shade, a day of cloud and thick dark. [16] A day of sounding the
horn and the war-cry against the walled towns and the high towers. [17] And
I will send trouble on men so that they will go about like the blind,
because they have done evil against the Lord: and their blood will be
drained out like dust, and their strength like waste. [18] Even their
silver and their gold will not be able to keep them safe in the day of the
Lord's wrath; but all the land will be burned up in the fire of his bitter
wrath: for he will put an end, even suddenly, to all who are living in the
land.
