1 The word of theLordwhich came unto 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 utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith theLord.
3 I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of the ground, saith theLord.
4 And I will stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place,andthe name of the Chemarim with the priests;
5 and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship, which swear to theLordand swear by Malcam;
6 and them that are turned back from following theLord; and those that have not sought theLord, nor inquired after him.
7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the LordGODfor the day of theLordis at hand: for theLordhath prepared a sacrifice, he hath sanctified his guests.
8 And it shall come to pass in the day of theLord’S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s sons, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
9 And in that day I will punish all those that leap over the threshold, which fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.
10 And in that day, saith theLord, there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills.
11 Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone: all they that were laden with sliver are cut off.
12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles; and I will punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, TheLordwill not do good, neither will he do evil.
13 And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: yea, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof.
14 The great day of theLordis near, it is near and hasteth greatly,eventhe voice of the day of theLord; the mighty man crieth there bitterly.
15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fenced cities, and against the high battlements.
17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against theLord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of theLord’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land.