Zephaniah 1

The Coming Judgment on Judah

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

2 "I will 1 utterly consume everything
From the face of the land,"
Says the LORD;
3 "I b will consume man and beast;
I will consume the birds of the heavens,
The fish of the sea,
And the 2 stumbling blocks 3 along with the wicked.
I will cut off man from the face of the 4 land,"
Says the LORD.
4 "I will stretch out My hand against Judah,
And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
5 I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place,
The names of the c idolatrous 6 priests with the pagan priests -
5 Those d who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;
Those who worship and swear oaths by the LORD,
But who also swear e by 7 Milcom; 8
6 f Those who have turned back from following the LORD,
And g have not sought the LORD, nor inquired of Him."

The Day of the Lord Is Near

7 h Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD;
i For the day of the LORD is at hand,
For j the LORD has prepared a sacrifice;
He has 9 invited His guests.
8 "And it shall be,
In the day of the LORD's sacrifice,
That I will punish k 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 l leap over the threshold, 10
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 m the Fish Gate,
A wailing from the Second Quarter,
And a loud crashing from the hills.
11 n Wail, you inhabitants of 11 Maktesh! 12
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 o settled 13 in complacency,
p 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 q not drink their wine."

14 r 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 s 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 t trumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities
And against the high towers.

17 "I will bring distress upon men,
And they shall u 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 v 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.

  1. Cross References
    2 Kings 22:1
    Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.
    2 Kings 22:2
    And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
    2 Chronicles 34:1 - 33
    Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.
    Jeremiah 1:2
    To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
    Jeremiah 22:11
    For thus says the LORD concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went from this place: "He shall not return here anymore.
  2. Cross References
    Hosea 4:3
    Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.
  3. Cross References
    2 Kings 23:5
    Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.
    Hosea 10:5
    The inhabitants of Samaria fear Because of the calf of Beth Aven. For its people mourn for it, And its priests shriek for it - Because its glory has departed from it.
  4. Cross References
    2 Kings 23:12
    The altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron.
    Jeremiah 19:13
    "And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to other gods." '"
  5. Cross References
    Joshua 23:7
    And lest you go among these nations, these who remain among you. You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them; you shall not serve them nor bow down to them.
  6. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:4
    Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward.
    Jeremiah 2:13
    For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns - broken cisterns that can hold no water.
  7. Cross References
    Hosea 7:7
    They are all hot, like an oven, And have devoured their judges; All their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me.
  8. Cross References
    Habakkuk 2:20
    "But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him."
    Zechariah 2:13
    "Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!"
  9. Cross References
    Isaiah 13:6
    Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
  10. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:26
    Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.
    Isaiah 34:6
    The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It is made overflowing with fatness, With the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
    Jeremiah 46:10
    For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, A day of vengeance, That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; For the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice In the north country by the River Euphrates.
    Ezekiel 39:17 - 19
    And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: "Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, That you may eat flesh and drink blood.
  11. Cross References
    Jeremiah 39:6
    Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah.
  12. Cross References
    1 Samuel 5:5
    Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
  13. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 33:14
    After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height. Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.
    Nehemiah 3:3
    Also the sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars.
    Nehemiah 12:39
    And above the Gate of Ephraim, above the Old Gate, above the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate; and they stopped by the Gate of the Prison.
  14. Cross References
    James 5:1
    Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!
  15. Cross References
    Jeremiah 48:11
    Moab has been at ease from his youth; He has settled on his dregs, And has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, Nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remained in him, And his scent has not changed.
    Amos 6:1
    Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, And trust in Mount Samaria, Notable persons in the chief nation, To whom the house of Israel comes!
  16. Cross References
    Psalms 94:7
    Yet they say, "The LORD does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob understand.
  17. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:39
    You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
  18. Cross References
    Jeremiah 30:7
    Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.
    Joel 2:1
    Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand:
    Joel 2:11
    The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?
  19. Cross References
    Isaiah 22:5
    For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity By the Lord GOD of hosts In the Valley of Vision - Breaking down the walls And of crying to the mountain.
  20. Cross References
    Isaiah 27:13
    So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown; They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, And shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
    Jeremiah 4:19
    O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, Because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war.
  21. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:29
    And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.
  22. Cross References
    Ezekiel 7:19
    They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the LORD; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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