Zephaniah 3:1-8

God will punish Jerusalem

1  Terrible trouble will come to this city!

It is a dirty, wicked place,

full of cruel people.

2 The people of the city do not obey any laws.

They do not listen to advice.

They do not trust in the Lord.

They do not ask their God to help them.

3 The city's rulers roar like lions

to make people afraid.

Its judges are like hungry wolves.

They kill their food in the evening

and by the next morning nothing remains.

4 The city's prophets are proud people

that nobody can trust.

Its priests do not obey God's laws.

They cause God's temple to be an unclean place.

5 But the Lord is in the city

and he never does any wrong thing.

Every day he shows that he is fair.

He never fails to do what is right.

But wicked people are not ashamed

when they do bad things.

6 The Lord says,

‘I have destroyed nations.

I have knocked down the strong walls and towers of their cities.

I have caused their streets to be empty,

with no people in them.

Nobody lives in their cities any more.

7 I thought, “Now you people of Jerusalem will respect me!

Now you will listen to me when I warn you.”

If my people had obeyed me,

I would not have destroyed their city.

I would not punish them as they deserve.

But they all continued to do evil things.

Every day they only wanted to do something bad.

8 So you must wait for me to act.

Wait for the day when I will show who is right.

I have decided to bring together nations and kingdoms.

Then I will punish them with my great anger.

I will be so angry that I destroy the whole earth,

like a fire that destroys everything.’

That is what the Lord says.