Introduction

Tsefanyah (commonly known as Zephaniah) was a prophet at the time that Husiyas (Josiah) was king of Yehudah (Judah). The people served the true God, but before long, they abandoned Yahweh and started worshipping false gods. So then Yahweh threatened to punish the people of Yerushalem (Jerusalem) city and the people across all of Yehudah because of their evil deeds. However, even then, they refused to ask him for forgiveness. So in 586 B.C., Yerushalem was destroyed by the Babylonians (sometimes also called Chaldeans). But even then, he’d planned to punish those other nations in the future for enslaving his people, then he’d allow his people to return there to Yerushalem and receive his blessing.

This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.