Zephaniah 1

The LORD will destroy Judah

1 This is the LORD's message, which he gave to Zephaniah, Cushi's son. 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.

5 Some people stand on the roof tops to worship the sun, the moon and the stars. 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.’

1:5Verse 4
1:5priests: See 2 Kings 23:5.
1:5Verse 5
1:5the sun, the moon and the stars: Many people in Judah worshipped the sun and the stars. See 2 Kings 23:11; Jeremiah 19:13; Ezekiel 8:16.
1:5Malcam: The people who worshipped the false god Malcam killed their own children. They thought that it made Malcam happy.

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.

The LORD has made his sacrifice ready.

He has made the people ready who will give the sacrifice to him.’

1:7Verse 7
1:7‘day of the LORD’: the time when God sent a cruel army, called Chaldeans, to fight against Judah.
1:7sacrifice: Here, this does not mean an animal. It means the people who worshipped false gods.
1:7the people that God made ready: the army of the Chaldeans.

8 ‘When it is time for the LORD's sacrifice, I will punish the rulers and the king's sons.

I will punish the people who wear heathen clothes, too.’

1:8Verse 8
1:8‘heathen clothes’: We think that these were foreign clothes. They put these clothes on when they worshipped other gods.

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 ‘On that day’, says the LORD, ‘you will hear the noise of people who are shouting from one gate of the city. It is the gate called 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 in Maktesh! Weep!

The LORD will remove those who do business in your town.

Some people have lots of money there. But all those people will be dead then.’

1:11Verses 10-11
1:11This will happen to Judah's people when the army of the Chaldeans comes.

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 also.

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 soon, 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.