CHAPTER 1

1 The word of Jehovah, which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.

2 By removing I will remove all things from the face of the land, saith Jehovah; I will remove man and beast;

3 And I will remove the bird of heaven, And the fishes of the sea: And stumblingblocks shall be to the ungodly! And I will cut off man From the face of the land, saith Jehovah: (190)

4 Yea, I will extend my hand upon Judah, And upon all the inhabitants of Je; And will cut off from this place the remnants of Baal, The name of its worshippers with the priests;

5 And those who worship, On their roofs, the host of heaven; And those who worship and swear by Jehovah, And swear by their own king;

6 And who turn back from following Jehovah, And who seek not Jehovah, And do not inquire of him.

7 Be silent at the presence of the Lord Jehovah! For nigh is the day of Jehovah; Yea, prepared hath Jehovah a sacrifice, He hath prepared his guests:

8 And it shall be in the day of Jehovah’s sacrifice, That I will visit the princes and the king’s sons, And all who wear foreign apparel;

9 And I will visit all those who dance on the threshold in that day, Who fill the house of their masters By means of rapine and fraud. (204)

10 And there shall be in that day, saith Jehovah, The voice of crying from the fish-gate, and howling from the second gate, And great breach from the hills. (212)

11 Howl ye, inhabitants of the lower part, For exterminated are the people of traffic, Cut off are all loaded with money.

12 And it shall be in that day, That I will search Jerusalem with candles, And visit the men, congealed on their lees, Who say in their hearts,—“Good will not Jehovah do, Nor will he do evil:”

13 And their substance shall be a spoil, And their house a water; And houses shall they build and not inhabit; And plant shall they vineyards, And shall not drink the wine of them.

14 Nigh is the great day of Jehovah, Nigh and hastening quickly; The voice of Jehovah’s day will cry out bitterly,—then will he be strong; (222)

15 A day of wrath shall be that day, A day of distress and of affliction, A day of tumult and of desolation, A day of darkness and of thick darkness, A day of clouds and of mist;

16 A day of trumpet and of shouting over the fortified cities and over the lofty citadels.

17 And I will straiten men, And they shall walk as the blind, Because they have done wickedly against Jehovah; And poured out shall be their blood as dust,

18 Even their silver and their gold shall not avail to deliver them, in the day of Jehovah’s wrath; And by the fire of his indignation shall their land be consumed; For a consummation, and a speedy one, Will be made of all the inhabitants of the land.