Zep 1 | NASB2020 | STEP | The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah son of Cushi , son of Gedaliah , son of Amariah , son of Hezekiah , in the days of Josiah son of Amon , king of Judah :

Zephaniah 1

Day of Judgment on Judah

1 The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of ^aJosiah son of ^bAmon, king of Judah:

2 “I will completely ^cremove all things
From the face of the ^{▼▼Lit ground}earth,” declares the Lord.
3 “I will remove ^ehuman and animal life;
I will remove the ^fbirds of the sky
And the fish of the sea,
And the ^{▼▼Or stumbling blocks
,} ^hruins along with the wicked;
And I will eliminate mankind from the face of the ^{▼▼Lit ground}earth,” declares the Lord.
4 “So I will ^jstretch out My hand against Judah
And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And I will ^keliminate the remnant of Baal from this place,
And the names of the ^lidolatrous priests along with the other priests.
5 “And those who bow down on the ^mhousetops to the heavenly ^{▼▼Lit host; i.e., sun, stars, etc.}lights,
And those who bow down and ^oswear to the Lord, but also swear by ^{▼▼Or their king; MT Malcam, prob. a variant spelling of Milcom, the Ammonite god
,} ^qMilcom,
6 And those who have ^rturned back from following the Lord,
And those who have ^snot sought the Lord nor inquired of Him.”

7 ^{▼▼Lit Hush
,} ^uBe silent before the Lord ^{▼▼Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord}God!
For the ^wday of the Lord is near,
Because the Lord has prepared a ^xsacrifice,
He has ^yconsecrated His guests.
8 “Then it will come about on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice
That I will ^zpunish the princes, the king’s sons,
And all who clothe themselves with ^aaforeign garments.
9 “And on that day I will punish all who leap on the temple threshold,
Who fill the house of their ^{▼▼Or Lord}lord with ^acviolence and deceit.
10 “And on that day,” declares the Lord,
“There will be the sound of a cry from the ^adFish Gate,
Wailing from the ^{▼▼I.e., a district of Jerusalem
,} ^afSecond Quarter,
And a loud crash from the ^aghills.
11 “Wail, you inhabitants of the ^{▼▼I.e., a district of Jerusalem}Mortar,
Because all the ^{▼▼Or merchant people will}people of ^ajCanaan will be destroyed;
All who weigh out ^aksilver will be eliminated.
12 “And it will come about at that time
That I will ^alsearch Jerusalem with lamps,
And I will punish the people
Who are ^{▼▼Lit thickening on their dregs
,} ^anstagnant in spirit,
Who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will ^aonot do good nor harm!’
13 “Their wealth will become ^applunder,
And their houses desolate;
Yes, ^aqthey will build houses but not inhabit them,
And plant vineyards but not drink their wine.”

14 The ^argreat ^asday of the Lord is near,
Near and coming very quickly;
Listen, the day of the Lord!
^{▼▼Lit There}In it the warrior ^aucries out bitterly.
15 That day is a day of anger,
A day of ^avtrouble and distress,
A day of destruction and desolation,
A day of ^awdarkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 A day of ^axtrumpet and battle cry
Against the ^ayfortified cities
And the high corner towers.
17 I will bring ^azdistress on mankind
So that they will walk ^balike those who are blind,
Because they have sinned against the Lord;
And their ^bbblood will be poured out like dust,
And their ^bcflesh like dung.
18 Neither their ^bdsilver nor their gold
Will be able to save them
On the day of the Lord’s anger;
And ^beall the earth will be devoured
By the fire of His jealousy,
For He will ^bfmake a complete end,
Indeed a horrifying one,
Of all the inhabitants of the earth.