\NormalFont\ShortTitle{Zephaniah}
{\MTB The Book of
\par }{\MT Zephaniah

\par }\ChapOne{1}{\PP \VerseOne{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
Josiah,
the
son
of
Amon,
king
of
Judah.
\VS{2}I
will
take
away
everything
from
the
face
of
the
earth,
says
the
Lord.
\VS{3}I
will
take
away
man
and
beast;
I
will
take
away
the
birds
of
the
heaven
and
the fishes
of
the
sea; causing
the downfall
of
the evil-doers,
and cutting
man
off
from
the
face
of
the
earth,
says
the
Lord.
\VS{4}And
my
hand
will
be
stretched
out
on
Judah
and
on
all
the
people
of
Jerusalem, cutting
off
the
name
of
the
Baal
from
this
place,
and
the
name
of
the false
priests,
\VS{5}And
the worshippers
of
the
army
of
heaven
on
the house-tops,
and
the Lord's worshippers
who
take
oaths
by
Milcom,
\VS{6}And
those
who
are
turned
back
from going
after
the
Lord,
and
those
who
have
not
made prayer
to
the
Lord
or got directions
from
him.
\VS{7}Let
there
be no sound
before
the
Lord
God:
for
the
day
of
the
Lord
is
near:
for
the
Lord
has
made
ready
an
offering,
he
has
made
his
guests
holy.
\VS{8}And
it
will
come
about
in
the
day
of
the Lord's
offering,
that
I
will send
punishment
on
the
rulers
and
the king's
sons
and
all
who
are
clothed
in
robes
from strange lands.
\VS{9}And
in
that
day
I
will send
punishment
on
all
those
who
come jumping
over
the doorstep
and make
their master's
house
full
of
violent behaviour
and
deceit.
\VS{10}And
in
that
day,
says
the
Lord,
there
will
be
the
sound
of
a
cry
from
the
fish doorway,
and
an
outcry
from
the new
town,
and
a
great thundering
from
the
hills,
and
cries
of grief
from
the
people
of
the Hollow;
\VS{11}Because
of
the downfall
of
all
the
people
of
Canaan:
all
those
who
were weighted
down
with
silver
have
been
cut
off.
\VS{12}And
it
will
come
about
at
that
time,
that
I
will
go
searching
through
Jerusalem
with lights;
and
I
will send
punishment
on
the
men
who
have
become
like
wine stored over-long,
who
say
to
themselves,
The
Lord
will
not
do
good
and
will
not
do
evil.
\VS{13}And
their
wealth
will
be violently
taken away,
and
their
houses
will
be
made
waste:
they
will
go
on
building
houses
and
never
living
in
them,
and planting vine-gardens
but
not
drinking
the
wine
from
them.
\VS{14}The
great
day
of
the
Lord
is
near,
it
is
near
and coming
very
quickly;
the
bitter
day
of
the
Lord
is
near, coming
on
more
quickly
than
a
man
of
war.
\VS{15}That
day
is
a
day
of
wrath,
a
day
of
trouble
and sorrow,
a
day
of wasting
and
destruction,
a
day
of
dark night
and
deep shade,
a
day
of
cloud
and
thick
dark.
\VS{16}A
day
of sounding
the
horn
and
the war-cry
against
the walled
towns
and
the
high
towers.
\VS{17}And
I
will send
trouble
on
men
so
that
they
will
go
about
like
the
blind,
because
they
have
done evil
against
the
Lord:
and
their
blood
will
be drained
out
like
dust,
and
their strength
like waste.
\VS{18}Even
their
silver
and
their
gold
will
not
be
able
to
keep
them safe
in
the
day
of
the Lord's
wrath;
but
all
the
land
will
be burned
up
in
the
fire
of
his bitter
wrath:
for
he
will put
an
end,
even suddenly,
to
all
who
are
living
in
the
land.

\par }\Chap{2}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Come together, make everyone come together, O
nation
without
shame;
\VS{2}Before
the
Lord sends
you violently
away
in flight
like
the
waste
from
the grain;
before
the
burning
wrath
of
the
Lord
comes
on
you,
before
the
day
of
the Lord's
wrath
comes
on
you.
\VS{3}Make
search
for
the
Lord,
all
you quiet
ones
of
the
earth,
who
have
done
what
is
right
in
his eyes;
make
search
for
righteousness
and
a quiet heart:
it
may
be
that
you
will
be safely covered
in
the
day
of
the Lord's
wrath.
\VS{4}For
Gaza
will
be given
up
and
Ashkelon
will
become
waste:
they
will send
Ashdod
out
in
the middle
of
the day,
and
Ekron
will
be
uprooted.
\VS{5}Sorrow
to
the
people
living
by
the
sea,
the
nation
of
the
Cherethites!
The
word
of
the
Lord
is
against
you,
O
Canaan,
the
land
of
the
Philistines;
I
will send
destruction
on
you till
there
is
no
one
living
in
you.
\VS{6}And
the land
by
the
sea
will
be grass-land,
with houses
for keepers
of
sheep
and walled places
for
flocks.
\VS{7}The land
by
the sea
will
be
for
the
rest
of
the children
of
Judah;
by
the sea
they
will
give
their flocks
food:
in
the
houses
of
Ashkelon
they
will
take
their
rest
in
the
evening;
for
the
Lord
their
God
will
take
them
in hand
and
their fate
will
be changed.
\VS{8}My ears
have
been open
to
the bitter words
of
Moab
and
the words
of
shame
of
the
children
of
Ammon,
which
they
have
said
against
my
people, lifting
themselves
up
against
the limit
of
their
land.
\VS{9}For
this
cause,
by
my
life,
says
the
Lord
of
armies,
the
God
of
Israel,
truly
Moab
will
become
like
Sodom
and
the
children
of
Ammon
like
Gomorrah, given
up
to
waste plants
and
salt pools
and unpeopled
for
ever:
the
rest
of
my
people
will
take
their
property,
the overflow
of
my
nation
will
take
their heritage.
\VS{10}This
will
be
their fate
because
of
their
pride,
because
they
have said evil, lifting
themselves
up
against
the
people
of
the
Lord
of
armies.
\VS{11}The
Lord
will let
himself
be seen
by
them:
for
he
will
make
all
the
gods
of
the
earth feeble;
and
men
will go
down
before
him
in
worship,
everyone
from
his
place,
even
all
the sea-lands
of
the
nations.
\VS{12}And
you
Ethiopians
will
be put
to death
by
my
sword.
\VS{13}And
his
hand
will
be
stretched
out
against
the
north,
for
the
destruction
of
Assyria;
and
he
will
make
Nineveh unpeopled
and
dry
like
the
waste
land.
\VS{14}And
herds
will take
their
rest
in
the
middle
of
her,
all
the
beasts
of
the valley:
the
pelican
and
the porcupine
will
make
their living-places
on
the
tops
of
its
pillars;
the owl
will
be
crying
in
the
window;
the raven
will
be seen
on
the doorstep.
\VS{15}This
is
the
town which
was
full
of
joy,
living
without fear
of danger,
saying
in
her
heart,
I
am,
and
there
is
no
other:
how
has she
been
made
waste,
a
place
for
beasts
to
take
their
rest
in!
everyone
who goes
by
her
will
make hisses, waving
his
hand.

\par }\Chap{3}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Sorrow
to her
who is uncontrolled and
unclean,
the cruel
town!
\VS{2}She
gave
no
attention
to
the
voice,
she
had
no
use
for teaching,
she
put
no faith
in
the
Lord,
she
did
not
come
near
to
her
God.
\VS{3}Her
rulers
are
like loud-voiced
lions
in
her;
her
judges
are
wolves
of
the
evening, crushing up
the bones
before
the
morning.
\VS{4}Her
prophets
are good-for-nothing
persons, full
of deceit:
her
priests
have made
the
holy
place unclean
and
have gone
violently
against
the
law.
\VS{5}The
Lord
in
her
is upright;
he
will
not
do
evil;
every
morning
he lets
his righteousness
be seen,
he
is unchanging;
but
the evil-doer
has
no sense
of
shame.
\VS{6}I
have
had
the
nations
cut
off,
their
towers
are
broken
down;
I
have
made
their
streets
a
waste
so
that
no
one goes
through
them: destruction
has overtaken
their
towns,
so
that
there
is
no
man
living
in
them.
\VS{7}I
said,
Certainly
you
will
go
in
fear
of
me,
and come
under
my training,
so
that
whatever
I
may send
on
her
may
not
be
cut
off
before
her eyes:
but
they
got
up
early
and
made
all
their
works evil.
\VS{8}For
this
reason,
go
on
waiting
for
me,
says
the
Lord, till
the
day
when
I
come
up
as
a witness:
for
my purpose
is
to send
for
the
nations
and
to
get
the
kingdoms
together,
so
that
I
may
let
loose
on
them
my
passion,
even
all
my
burning
wrath:
for
all
the
earth
will
be burned
up
in
the
fire
of
my bitter
passion.
\VS{9}For
then
I
will
give
the
people
a clean
language,
so
that
they
may
all
make prayer
to
the
Lord
and
be
his
servants
with
one mind.
\VS{10}From over
the
rivers
of
Ethiopia,
and
from
the
sides
of
the north, they
will come
to me
with
an
offering.
\VS{11}In
that
day
you
will
have
no
shame
on account
of
all
the
things
in
which
you
did evil
against
me:
for
then
I
will
take
away
from
among
you
those
who
were lifted
up
in
pride,
and
you
will
no
longer
be lifted
up
with
pride
in
my
holy
mountain.
\VS{12}But
I
will still
have
among
you
a quiet
and
poor
people,
and
they
will put
their faith
in
the
name
of
the
Lord.
\VS{13}The
rest
of
Israel
will
do
no
evil
and
say
no
false
words;
the
tongue
of deceit
will
not
be seen
in
their
mouth:
for
they
will take
their food
and
their
rest,
and
no
one
will
be
a
cause
of
fear
to
them.
\VS{14}Make melody,
O
daughter
of
Zion;
give
a
loud
cry,
O
Israel;
be
glad
and
let
your
heart
be
full
of
joy,
O
daughter
of
Jerusalem.
\VS{15}The
Lord
has
taken
away those
who
were judging
you,
he
has sent
your haters far
away:
the
King
of
Israel,
even
the
Lord,
is
among
you:
you
will
have
no
more
fear
of
evil.
\VS{16}In
that
day
it
will
be
said
to
Jerusalem,
Have
no
fear: O
Zion,
let
not
your
hands
be
feeble.
\VS{17}The
Lord
your
God
is
among
you,
as
a
strong saviour:
he
will
be
glad
over
you
with
joy,
he
will make
his
love new again,
he
will make
a song
of
joy
over
you
as
in
the time
of
a holy feast.
\VS{18}I
will
take
away
your troubles,
lifting
up
your
shame
from
off
you.
\VS{19}See,
at
that
time
I
will
put
an end
to
all
who
have
been troubling
you:
I
will
give
salvation
to
her
whose steps
are uncertain,
and get
together
her
who
has
been sent
in flight;
and
I
will
make
them
a cause
of
praise
and
an honoured
name
in
all
the
earth,
when
I
let
their fate
be changed.
\VS{20}At
that
time
I
will
make
you
come
in,
at
that
time
I
will
get
you
together:
for
I
will
make
you
a
name
and
a
praise
among
all
the
peoples
of
the
earth
when
I
let
your fate
be changed
before
your
eyes,
says
the
Lord.
\par }