1 1 I am Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the grandson of Gedaliah, and the great-grandson of Amariah, whose father was King Hezekiah. Yahweh gave this message to me during the time when King Amon’s son Josiah was the King of Judah.
2 Yahweh says,
“I will ◄sweep away/destroy► everything [HYP] that is on the earth.
3 I will sweep away people and animals.
I will sweep away birds and fish.
I will get rid of wicked people;
there will be no more wicked [HYP] people on the earth.”
4 “These are some of the things that I will do:
I will punish the people who live in Jerusalem and other places in Judah.
I will destroy everything that has been used in the worship of Baal.
I will cause people to no longer remember the names of the pagan priests
or the other priests who have turned away from me.
5 I will get rid of those who go up on the roofs of their houses and worship the sun and moon and stars,
those who claim that they worship me but also worship their god Molech.
6 I will get rid of all those who previously worshiped me but no longer do,
those who no longer seek my help or ask me to tell them what they should do.”
7 Be silent in front of Yahweh the Lord,
because it will soon be the time/day when Yahweh will judge and punish people.
Yahweh has prepared to get rid of the people of Judah;
they will be like [MET] animals that are slaughtered for sacrifices,
and he has chosen their enemies to be the ones who will get rid of them.
8 Yahweh says, “On that day when I will get rid of the people of Judah,
I will punish their officials and the king’s sons,
and I will punish all those who worship foreign gods [MTY].
9 I will punish those who show that they revere their god Dagan by avoiding stepping on the threshold of his temple,
and those who do violent things and tell lies in the temples of their gods.”
10 Yahweh also says,
“On that day, people will cry out at the Fish Gate of Jerusalem.
People will wail in the newer part of the city,
and people will hear a loud crash of buildings collapsing in the hills.
11 So, all you people who live in the market area of Jerusalem should wail,
because all those who sell goods and weigh out silver will be slaughtered.
12 It will be as though I will light lanterns to search in dark places in Jerusalem
for those who have become very satisfied with their behavior and complacent about their sins.
They think that I, Yahweh, will do nothing to them,
neither good things nor bad things.
13 But I say that their valuable possessions will be plundered/stolen by their enemies,
and their houses will be destroyed.
They will build new homes,
but they will not live in them;
they will plant vineyards,
but they will never drink any wine made from grapes that grow there.”
14 It will soon be the day/time when Yahweh will punish people.
It will be here quickly.
It will be a time when people cry bitterly,
a time when even brave soldiers will cry loudly.
15 It will be a time when God shows that he is very angry,
a time when people experience much distress/suffering and trouble.
It will be a time when many things are ruined and destroyed [DOU].
It will be a time when it is very gloomy and dark [DOU],
when the clouds are very black.
16 It will be a time when soldiers will blow trumpets to call other soldiers to battle.
Your enemies will tear down the walls around your cities
and the high towers at the corners of those walls.
17 Because you sinned against Yahweh,
he will cause you to experience great distress;
you will walk around groping like [SIM] blind people do.
Your blood will flow from your bodies like [SIM] water,
and your corpses will lie on the ground and rot [SIM].
18 At the time that Yahweh shows that he is very angry with you,
you will not be able to save yourselves
by giving silver or gold to your enemies.
Because Yahweh ◄is very jealous/does not want people to worship any other god►,
he will send a fire to burn up the entire world,
and he will suddenly get rid of all the wicked people who live on the earth.
2 1 You people of Judah who ought to be ashamed,
gather together [DOU].
2 Yahweh is extremely angry with you,
so gather together now,
before it is time for him to punish [MTY] you
and blow you away like [SIM] the wind blows away chaff.
3 All you people in Judah who are humble,
worship Yahweh, and obey what he has commanded.
Try to do what is right
and to be humble.
If you do that, perhaps Yahweh will protect/spare you
on the day when he punishes [MTY] people.
4 When Yahweh punishes Philistia,
Gaza and Ashkelon cities will be deserted/abandoned.
Ashdod city will be attacked and the people expelled at noon when people are resting;
the people of Ekron city will also be driven out.
5 And terrible things will happen to you people of Philistia who live near the sea,
because Yahweh has decided [MTY] that he will punish [MTY] you, also.
He will get rid of all of you;
not one person will ◄survive/remain alive►.
6 The land of Philistia near the sea will become a pasture,
a place for shepherds and their sheep pens.
7 The people of Judah who ◄survive/are still alive► will possess that land.
At night they will sleep in the deserted houses in Ashkelon.
Yahweh will take care of them;
he will enable them to prosper again.
8 The Commander of the armies of angels, the God to whom we Israeli people belong, says this:
“I have heard the people of Moab and Ammon
when they insulted [DOU] my people,
and when they said that they would conquer my people’s country.
9 So now, as surely as I live, I will destroy Moab and Ammon
like [SIM] I destroyed Gomorrah city.
Their land will be a place were there are nettles and salt pits;
it will be ruined forever.
My Israeli people who survive will take away all their valuable possessions
and also occupy their land.”
10 The people of Moab and Ammon will get what they deserve for being proud,
because they made fun of the people who belong to the Commander of the armies of angels.
11 Yahweh will cause them to be terrified
when he destroys all the gods of their countries.
Then even the people who live on islands throughout the world will worship Yahweh,
each in their own countries.
12 Yahweh says that he will also slaughter the people of Ethiopia.
13 Yahweh will punish [IDM] and destroy Assyria,
that land northeast of us.
He will cause its capital Nineveh to become ruined and deserted,
a place that will be as dry as the desert.
14 Flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and many kinds of wild animals will lie down there.
Owls and crows will sit on the columns/pillars of the destroyed buildings,
and they will ◄hoot/cry out► through the windows.
There will be rubble in the doorways,
and the valuable cedar boards will be taken from the ruined houses.
15 The people of Nineveh were previously happy and proud,
thinking that they were very safe.
They were always saying,
“Our city is the greatest city;
there is no city as great as ours!”
But now it will become a ruins,
a place where wild animals make their dens.
And everyone who passes by there will hiss and scorn/ridicule that city,
and shake their fists to show that they detest that city very much.
3 1 Terrible things will also happen to Jerusalem,
that city whose people have rebelled against Yahweh
and who have become unacceptable to him because of the sins that they have committed.
They act violently toward others and they ◄oppress/treat cruelly► other people.
2 The people there do not pay attention to people who tell them the wrong things that they are doing
and try to ◄correct them/cause them to quit doing those things►.
The people in Jerusalem do not trust in Yahweh
or draw near to ask help from their God.
3 Their leaders are like [MET] roaring lions;
they are like [MET] wolves that attack other animals during the evening,
and eat everything that they kill,
with the result that the next morning there is nothing left of those animals to eat.
4 The prophets in Jerusalem are proud,
and they give messages that are not to be trusted.
Their priests cause the temple to be unholy
by doing things that are opposed to the laws of Moses.
5 But Yahweh is also in the city;
and he never does what is wrong.
He treats people justly/fairly;
he does that every day,
but wicked people are never ashamed about their doing what is wrong.
6 Yahweh says this:
“I have destroyed many nations;
I have destroyed their strong/high city walls and towers.
Now I have caused the streets in those cities to be completely deserted [DOU];
the cities are ruined.
There are no people still alive in the cities;
they are all dead [LIT].
7 So I thought to myself,
‘Because of what I have done to those other nations,
surely the people of Jerusalem will revere me now,
and they will accept ◄my correcting them/my telling them to quit doing what is wrong►.
If they do that, I will not destroy their houses;
I will not punish them like I said that I would do.’
But in spite of knowing how I punished those other nations,
they were still eager to get up early each morning
and continue to do evil things.
8 Therefore I, Yahweh, say,
‘Wait for the day in which I will testify in court about your evil things.’
I have decided to gather the people of the kingdoms of the earth [DOU]
and cause them to know that I am very angry with them.
All over the earth I will punish and destroy people;
my being angry with them because I ◄am jealous/want people to worship no other god► is like [MET] a ◄raging/very hot► fire.
9 When that happens, I will cause all people [MTY] to be changed
and enable them to speak only what is ◄pure/pleasing to me►,
in order that everyone can worship me [MTY]
and unitedly/together serve me [MTY].
10 Then my people who were forced to go to other countries, those who live along the upper part of the Nile River in Ethiopia
will come to me and bring offerings to me.
11 At that time, you people in Jerusalem will no longer be ashamed about what has happened to you,
because you no longer will be rebelling against me.
I will get rid of all the people among you who are very proud [DOU].
No one on Zion, my holy hill, will strut around proudly.
12 Those who are still alive in Israel will be poor and humble;
they will be people who trust in me [MTY].
13 Those people who are still alive there in Israel will not do things that are wrong;
they will not tell lies or deceive [MTY] people.
They will eat and sleep safely,
because no one will cause them to be afraid.”
14 You people who live in Jerusalem [DOU] and other places in Israel,
sing and shout loudly!
Be glad, and rejoice [DOU] greatly,
15 because Yahweh will stop punishing [MTY] you,
and he will send away from you the armies of your enemies!
And Yahweh himself, the king of us Israeli people, will live among us,
and never again will we be afraid that others will harm us.
16 At that time, other people will say to us people of Jerusalem,
“You people of [APO] Jerusalem, do not be afraid;
do not become afraid or discouraged,
17 because Yahweh your God is living among you.
He is mighty, and he will rescue/save you.
He will be very happy with you;
because he loves you, he will cause you to not be afraid;
he will sing loudly to rejoice over you.”
18 Yahweh says, “You people were sad and ashamed
because you were unable to attend your religious festivals;
but I will cause you to no longer be disgraced.
19 Truly, I will severely punish all those who ◄oppressed you/caused you to suffer►.
I will rescue those who are helpless
and those who were forced to go to other countries.
I will enable them to be praised and honored in every country to which they were ◄exiled/forced to go►,
places where they were disgraced.
20 At that time, I will gather you together
and bring you back home to Israel.
I will cause you to ◄have a good reputation/be honored► and be greatly praised
among all the nations of the earth.
You [MTY] will see me causing you to prosper again.
That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”