1 The message of the Lord , which came to Zephaniah, son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the time of Josiah of Judah who was son of Amon .
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2 I will utterly destroy everything from off the face of the earth,
says the Lord .
3 I will take away human and animal,
the birds of the heavens
and the fish of the sea.
I will cause the wicked to stumble,
and I will cut off humanity from the face of the earth.
says the Lord .
4 I will stretch out my hand over Judah
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and I will cut off from this place the last remnant of Baal
and the name of the heathen priests,
5 and those who worship on the housetops
the host of the heavens,
and those worshippers of the Lord
who also pay homage to Milcom,
6 and those who turn back
from following the Lord ,
And those who do not seek the Lord
nor strive to find him.
7 Bow before the Lord God ,
for near is the day of the Lord ,
for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice,
he has sanctified his guests.
8 On the day of the Lord's sacrifice,
I will punish the officers and the royal princes,
and all those who clothe themselves in foreign apparel.
On that day,
9 and I will punish all who leap over the threshold,
who fill the house of their lord with violence and deceit.
10 Listen on that day, says the Lord .
A cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
and a wailing from the New Quarter,
and a great din from the hills,
and a wailing from the inhabitants of the Mortar,
for all the merchants are destroyed,
all those laden with money are cut off.
12 I will search Jerusalem with a lamp and I will punish those who are at ease,
sit comfortably with their wine, who are saying to themselves,
“the Lord brings neither prosperity nor calamity.”
13 Their wealth will become a prey
and their houses a desolation.
Though they build houses,
they will not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards,
they will not drink wine from them.
14 Near is the day of the Lord !
near and rapidly approaching!
Near is the bitter day of the Lord ,
and strong men will then cry out.
15 That day is a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress,
a day of destruction and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 a day of the trumpet and battle-cry,
against the fortified cities
and against the high battlements.
17 And I will bring distress upon the people
and they will walk as the blind,
and their blood will be poured out as dust
and their flesh as dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them. For in the day of the wrath of the Lord and in the fire of his jealousy the whole earth will be devoured. For he will make a speedy end of all the inhabitants of the earth.