Zephaniah 1

²I will utterly sweep away everything

from the face of the earth, says the Lord.

³I will sweep away humans and animals;

I will sweep away the birds of the air

and the fish of the sea.

I will make the wicked stumble.

I will cut off humanity

from the face of the earth, says the Lord.

⁴I will stretch out my hand against Judah,

and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

and I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal

and the name of the idolatrous priests;

⁵those who bow down on the roofs

to the host of the heavens;

those who bow down and swear to the Lord,

but also swear by Milcom;

⁶those who have turned back from following the Lord,

who have not sought the Lord or inquired of him.

⁷Be silent before the Lord God!

For the day of the Lord is at hand;

the Lord has prepared a sacrifice,

he has consecrated his guests.

⁸And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice

I will punish the officials and the king’s sons

and all who dress themselves in foreign attire.

⁹On that day I will punish

all who leap over the threshold,

who fill their master’s house

with violence and fraud.

¹⁰On that day, says the Lord,

a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,

a wail from the Second Quarter,

a loud crash from the hills.

¹¹The inhabitants of the Mortar wail,

for all the traders have perished;

all who weigh out silver are cut off.

¹²At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,

and I will punish the people

who rest complacently on their dregs,

those who say in their hearts,

“The Lord will not do good,

nor will he do harm.”

¹³Their wealth shall be plundered,

and their houses laid waste.

Though they build houses,

they shall not inhabit them;

though they plant vineyards,

they shall not drink wine from them.

¹⁴The great day of the Lord is near,

near and hastening fast;

the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter,

the warrior cries aloud there.

¹⁵That day will be a day of wrath,

a day of distress and anguish,

a day of ruin and devastation,

a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and thick darkness,

¹⁶a day of trumpet blast and battle cry

against the fortified cities

and against the lofty battlements.

¹⁷I will bring such distress upon people

that they shall walk like the blind;

because they have sinned against the Lord,

their blood shall be poured out like dust,

and their flesh like dung.

¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold

will be able to save them

on the day of the Lord’s wrath;

in the fire of his passion

the whole earth shall be consumed;

for a full, a terrible end

he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.