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Zephaniah 1
EasyEnglish Bible
Zephaniah 1
EasyEnglish Bible
The Lord will destroy Judah
1 This is the Lord's message, which he gave to Zephaniah, Cushi's son.[a] Cushi's father was Gedaliah. Gedaliah's father was Amariah, and Amariah's father was Hezekiah. The Lord gave this message to Zephaniah when Josiah was king. Josiah was the son of Amon, who was the king of Judah.
2 ‘It is the Lord who is speaking now.
I will remove everything from the ground.
3 I will remove men and animals.
I will remove the birds that fly in the air.
I will also remove the fish that live in the sea.
I will remove all the bad people.
Bad people cause trouble for other people.
Yes, I will remove all the people from the ground.
It is the Lord who is speaking.
4 I will destroy Judah.
I will remove all the people who live in Jerusalem.
I will remove all those who believe in the false god Baal.
I will remove Baal's priests.[b]
5 Some people stand on the roof tops to worship the sun, the moon and the stars.[c] I will remove those people.
Some people say that they love me. But they say also that they love Malcam (a false god). So I will remove them, too.’[d]
6 ‘I will remove those who have turned away from the Lord.
I will also remove those who decide things without the Lord.
7 Be quiet! The Lord God is here.
It will soon be the day of the Lord.[e]
The Lord has made his sacrifice ready.[f]
He has made the people ready who will give the sacrifice to him.’[g]
8 ‘When it is time for the Lord's sacrifice, I will punish the rulers and the king's sons.
I will punish everyone who wears clothes like foreign people do.’[h]
9 ‘I will also punish the people who rush into other people's houses. They do that because they want to rob those people.
On that same day, I will also punish other robbers. Those people fill their masters' houses with the things that they take.’
10 The Lord says, ‘On that day you will hear the noise of people who are shouting from one gate of the city. It is the gate called the Fish Gate.
And there will be sad sounds from the next gate.
There will be loud noises from the hills.
11 Shout out, you who live near Jerusalem's market! Weep!
The Lord will remove the traders from your town.
Some people have lots of money there. But all those people will be dead then.’[i]
12 ‘At that time,
I will look in all Jerusalem's dark corners. I will take lights with me.
I will find the drunks and I will punish them. These people say in their minds,
“The Lord will do neither good things nor bad things to us.”
13 So I will take away from them everything that they have.
I will take away their houses too.
They will build houses, but they will never live in them.
They will plant plants to get grapes. But they will never have wine from them.’
The great day of the Lord
14 The time for the great day of the Lord is coming very soon.
It will happen quickly.
Strong men will weep when they hear the noise of it.
15 The Lord will be very angry at that time.
It will be a time when there will be trouble.
On that day, he will destroy everything bad.
It will be very dark. At that time, there will be thick dark clouds.
16 At that time, people will make a noise with trumpets. They will shout when they go to fight in a war.
In the fight, they will try to destroy the strong walls of cities.
And they will try to destroy the strong high parts of the walls.
17 I will cause trouble for people.
So they will walk like people who cannot see.
This is because they have not obeyed the Lord.
Their blood will fall to the ground.
Yes, they will fall to the ground and they will die. After that, they will be nothing.
18 Their money will not save them,
on the day when the Lord is angry.
He watches.
And he is angry when his people love other gods.
So he will send fire on the earth.
Yes, he will quickly kill all the people who live in Judah.
Footnotes
- 1:1 When we write Lord like this, it is a special name for God. Sometimes people write it as ‘Yahweh’, or as ‘Jehovah’. It is his own name that he told Moses. See Exodus 3:14. It means ‘I am who I am’. This shows that God has always been there and he always will be there.
- 1:4 priests: See 2 Kings 23:5.
- 1:5 the sun, the moon and the stars: Many people in w Judah worshipped the sun and the stars. See 2 Kings 23:11; Jeremiah 19:13; Ezekiel 8:16.
- 1:5 Malcam: The people who worshipped the false god Malcam killed their own children. They thought that it made Malcam happy.
- 1:7 ‘day of the Lord’ is the time when God comes as the great judge.
- 1:7 sacrifice: Here, this does not mean an animal. It means the people who worshipped false gods.
- 1:7 the people that God made ready: the army of the Chaldeans.
- 1:8 Foreign people probably put these clothes on when they worshipped their own gods.
- 1:11 This will happen to Judah's people when the army of the Chaldeans comes.
Zephaniah 1
New International Version
Zephaniah 1
New International Version
1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah(A) son of Amon(B) king of Judah:
Judgment on the Whole Earth in the Day of the Lord
2 “I will sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,”(C)
declares the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away both man and beast;(D)
I will sweep away the birds in the sky(E)
and the fish in the sea—
and the idols that cause the wicked to stumble.”[a]
“When I destroy all mankind
on the face of the earth,”(F)
declares the Lord,(G)
4 “I will stretch out my hand(H) against Judah
and against all who live in Jerusalem.
I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place,(I)
the very names of the idolatrous priests(J)—
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to worship the starry host,(K)
those who bow down and swear by the Lord
and who also swear by Molek,[b](L)
6 those who turn back from following(M) the Lord
and neither seek(N) the Lord nor inquire(O) of him.”
7 Be silent(P) before the Sovereign Lord,
for the day of the Lord(Q) is near.
The Lord has prepared a sacrifice;(R)
he has consecrated those he has invited.
8 “On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice
I will punish(S) the officials
and the king’s sons(T)
and all those clad
in foreign clothes.
9 On that day I will punish
all who avoid stepping on the threshold,[c](U)
who fill the temple of their gods
with violence and deceit.(V)
10 “On that day,(W)”
declares the Lord,
“a cry will go up from the Fish Gate,(X)
wailing(Y) from the New Quarter,
and a loud crash from the hills.
11 Wail,(Z) you who live in the market district[d];
all your merchants will be wiped out,
all who trade with[e] silver will be destroyed.(AA)
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps
and punish those who are complacent,(AB)
who are like wine left on its dregs,(AC)
who think, ‘The Lord will do nothing,(AD)
either good or bad.’(AE)
13 Their wealth will be plundered,(AF)
their houses demolished.
Though they build houses,
they will not live in them;
though they plant vineyards,
they will not drink the wine.”(AG)
14 The great day of the Lord(AH) is near(AI)—
near and coming quickly.
The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter;
the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry.
15 That day will be a day of wrath—
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of trouble and ruin,
a day of darkness(AJ) and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness(AK)—
16 a day of trumpet and battle cry(AL)
against the fortified cities
and against the corner towers.(AM)
17 “I will bring such distress(AN) on all people
that they will grope about like those who are blind,(AO)
because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out(AP) like dust
and their entrails like dung.(AQ)
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath.”(AR)
Footnotes
- Zephaniah 1:3 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
- Zephaniah 1:5 Hebrew Malkam
- Zephaniah 1:9 See 1 Samuel 5:5.
- Zephaniah 1:11 Or the Mortar
- Zephaniah 1:11 Or in
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