Zephaniah 1

God will punish Judah

1 This is the Lord's message, which he gave to Cushi's son, Zephaniah. Cushi was the son of Gedaliah. Gedaliah was the son of Amariah, and Amariah was the son of Hezekiah. The Lord gave this message to Zephaniah when Josiah ruled Judah as king. Josiah was the son of Amon, king of Judah.

2 The Lord says,

‘I will destroy everything that is on the earth.

3 I will destroy people and animals.

I will destroy the birds in the sky.

and the fish in the sea.

I will remove all the wicked people who cause trouble.

Yes, I will remove all the people who live on the earth.

No one will remain.’

That is what the Lord says.

4 ‘I will attack Judah

and the people who live in Jerusalem.

I will remove from these places

everyone who serves the false god Baal.

I will remove all Baal's priests.

Nobody will remember them any more.

5 I will destroy the people who worship the sun, the moon and the stars.

They stand on their roofs to do that.

Some people promise to be faithful to me,

but they also worship their god Molech.

So I will destroy those people too.

6 I will destroy those people who have turned away from me, the Lord.

They do not ask me for help or advice.’

7 Be quiet and listen to the Lord God!

The day of the Lord will soon come.

The Lord is ready to offer Judah's people as a sacrifice.

He has chosen their enemies to do this.

8 The Lord says,

‘When the day comes for me to offer that sacrifice,

I will punish Judah's leaders and the king's sons.

I will punish everyone who wears the clothes of foreign people.

9 At that time, I will also punish everyone

who worships foreign gods.

I will punish those who rob other people

to fill their master's house with valuable things.

They are cruel people who tell lies.’

10 The Lord says,

‘On that day, you will hear people at the Fish Gate.

They will be shouting because they are afraid.

People will be crying loudly in the new part of Jerusalem.

There will be loud noises in the hills around the city.

11 Weep, you people who live near Jerusalem's market!

All the traders will disappear.

There will be no people who weigh silver coins for you.

12 At that time, I will use lamps to find people in Jerusalem

who are hiding in dark places.

I will punish people who do not think that their sins are important.

They think, “The Lord will not do anything to us,

either good things or bad things.”

13 But their enemies will take away their valuable things.

The houses of those people will become a heap of stones.

If they build houses for themselves,

they will never live in them.

If they plant vineyards to grow grapes,

they will never drink any wine from those grapes.’

The great day of punishment will soon come

14 The great day of the Lord will soon be here.

It will come very quickly.

That day will bring terrible trouble.

Brave soldiers will cry loudly in the battle.

15 It will be a day when God shows his great anger.

People will be very upset

because of the trouble that comes to them.

Enemies will destroy many things.

The day will be very dark,

and black clouds will cover the sky.

16 There will be the loud noise of trumpets.

Soldiers will shout as they go to fight.

The walls of cities will fall in the battle.

The strong high towers will fall down too.

17 The Lord says,

‘I will cause people to suffer

because they have not obeyed me.

They will walk around like blind people.

Blood will pour out of their bodies like dust.

Their dead bodies will lie on the ground like rubbish.’

18 On that day when the Lord shows his anger,

their money will not save them.

His anger will destroy the whole earth,

as fire completely destroys things.

He will quickly destroy all the people who live on the earth.

It will be a day of terrible trouble.