Zephaniah 1

New King James Version

⁴ “I will stretch out My hand against Judah,
And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
^[d]I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place,
The names of the ^(D)idolatrous^[e] priests with the pagan priests—
⁵ Those ^(E)who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;
Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord,
But who also swear ^(F)by ^[f]Milcom;
^6 (G)Those who have turned back from following the Lord,
And ^(H)have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.”

^7 (I)Be silent in the presence of the Lord God;
^(J)For the day of the Lord is at hand,
For ^(K)the Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
He has ^[g]invited His guests.

⁸ “And it shall be,
In the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,
That I will punish ^(L)the princes and the king’s children,
And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
⁹ In the same day I will punish
All those who ^(M)leap over the threshold,
Who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.

¹⁰ “And there shall be on that day,” says the Lord,
“The sound of a mournful cry from ^(N)the Fish Gate,
A wailing from the Second Quarter,
And a loud crashing from the hills.
^11 (O)Wail, you inhabitants of ^[h]Maktesh!
For all the merchant people are cut down;
All those who handle money are cut off.

¹² “And it shall come to pass at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And punish the men
Who are ^(P)settled^[i] in complacency,
^(Q)Who say in their heart,
‘The Lord will not do good,
Nor will He do evil.’
¹³ Therefore their goods shall become booty,
And their houses a desolation;
They shall build houses, but not inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards, but ^(R)not drink their wine.”

^14 (S)The great day of the Lord is near;
It is near and hastens quickly.
The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter;
There the mighty men shall cry out.
^15 (T)That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of devastation and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
¹⁶ A day of ^(U)trumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities
And against the high towers.

¹⁷ “I will bring distress upon men,
And they shall ^(V)walk like blind men,
Because they have sinned against the Lord;
Their blood shall be poured out like dust,
And their flesh like refuse.”

^18 (W)Neither their silver nor their gold
Shall be able to deliver them
In the day of the Lord’s wrath;
But the whole land shall be devoured
By the fire of His jealousy,
For He will make speedy riddance
Of all those who dwell in the land.