Moff ZEP Chapter 1

◄ ZEP 1 ► ║ ═ ©

1 The message of the Eternal which came to Zephanlah the son of Kushi, the son of Geda- liah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah. 2 

I will make a clean sweep of the earth,

the Eternal declares,

a clean sweep of man and beast, of bird and fish

[[idols and ungodly men,

a clean sweep of mankind from earth]].

I will strike at Judah and at all dwellers in Jerusalem;

I will wipe out the last trace of Baal from this place,

and the very name of idol-priestlings,

those who bow upon the roof to the stars in heaven,

the devotees of the Eternal who swear by Milkom,

those who give up following the Eternal,

and those who seek not the Eternal, who never consult him;

I will punish the officials and the royal house,

who by their violence and fraud enrich the palace;

I will punish all who leap across the threshold,

and all arrayed in foreign garb,

Hark! a scream from the Fish-gate,

a wail from the New Town!

Havoc on the Heights,

a wail from the Hollow!

For all the traders are undone,

the merchants are wiped out.

For I am searching Jerusalem with a lamp,

to punish careless men, living at ease,

who think the Eternal never does anything--

so their goods shall be plundered,

their houses laid in ruins

[[they shall not live in the houses they build,

nor drink wine from the vineyards they plant]].

Hush, ’tis the Lord the Eternal!

The Eternal’s day is at hand!

The Eternal has ready a victim for sacrifice,

and his guests are all prepared.

The Eternal’s great day is near,

near, speeding apace!

The Eternal’s bitter day is near,

rushing on like a warrior!--

a day of wrath, that day, of woe and anguish,

a day of stress and distress, darkness and gloom,

a day of cloud and thundercloud,

a day of trumpet-blast and battle-cry

against towns fortified and ramparts high--

when men must grope like blind men, desperately,

because against the Eternal they rebelled;

their blood shall be scattered like dust,

their flesh like dung;

no silver and no gold avails

to protect them on the day of the Eternal’s anger,

when the fire of his fury consumes the whole earth;

for a full end, ay a fearful end,

will the Eternal make of all on earth.

ZEP C1 C2 C3