Josiah Keeps the Passover
1 mJosiah nkept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb oon the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. 3 And he said to the Levites who ptaught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, q“Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. rYou need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses by your sdivisions, as prescribed in the writing of David king of Israel and the document of Solomon his son. 5 And stand in the Holy Place according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of your brothers the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by fathers’ household. 6 And slaughter the Passover lamb, and tconsecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the Lord by1 Moses.”
7 Then Josiah ucontributed to the lay people, as Passover offerings for all who were present, lambs and young goats from the flock to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 bulls; these were from the king’s possessions.
16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. 17 And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread aseven days. 18 No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the beighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.
Josiah Killed in Battle
20 cAfter all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, dNeco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him. 21 But he sent envoys to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you.” 22 Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but edisguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight in the plain of Megiddo. 23 And fthe archers shot King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” 24 So his servants took him out of the chariot and gcarried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was hburied in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments.
1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of aJosiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
The Coming Judgment on Judah
2 “I will utterly sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds of the heavens
and the bfish of the sea,
and the rubble1 with the wicked.
I will cut off mankind
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal
and the name of the cidolatrous priests along with the priests,
5 those who bow down don the roofs
to the ehost of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the Lord
6 those who have gturned back from following the Lord,
who do not hseek the Lord or inquire of him.”
The Day of the Lord Is Near
7 iBe silent before the Lord God!
For the jday of the Lord is near;
kthe Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and lconsecrated his guests.
8 And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice—
“I will punish the officials and the king’s sons
and all who array themselves in foreign attire.
9 On that day I will punish
everyone who mleaps over the threshold,
and those who fill their master’s3 house
with violence and fraud.
10 “On that day,” declares the Lord,
“a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
a wail from the Second Quarter,
a loud crash from the hills.
11 Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar!
For all the traders4 are no more;
all who weigh out silver are cut off.
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
who are complacent,5
those who say in their hearts,
n‘The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do ill.’
13 Their goods shall be plundered,
and their houses laid waste.
oThough they build houses,
they shall not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards,
they shall not drink wine from them.”
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
15 A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
pa day of darkness and gloom,
qa day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.
17 rI will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk slike the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
ton the day of the wrath of the Lord.
uIn the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Judgment on Judah’s Enemies
1 Gather together, yes, gather,
O shameless nation,
2 before the decree takes effect6
—before the day passes away like chaff—
before there comes upon you
the burning anger of the Lord,
before there comes upon you
the day of the anger of the Lord.
3 vSeek the Lord, all you whumble of the land,
who do his just commands;7
seek righteousness; seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the anger of the Lord.
4 xFor yGaza shall be deserted,
and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;
Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon,
and Ekron shall be uprooted.
5 Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast,
you nation of the zCherethites!
The word of the Lord is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
and I will destroy you auntil no inhabitant is left.
6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures,
with meadows8 for shepherds
and folds for flocks.
7 The seacoast shall become the possession
of the bremnant of the house of Judah,
on which they shall graze,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God will be mindful of them
and crestore their fortunes.
8 “I have heard the taunts of dMoab
and the revilings of the eAmmonites,
how they have taunted my people
and made boasts against their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel,
“Moab shall become flike Sodom,
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,
a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,
and a waste forever.
The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
10 This shall be their lot in return for their gpride,
because they taunted and boasted
against the people of the Lord of hosts.
11 The Lord will be awesome against them;
for he will famish all the gods of the earth,
and to him shall bow down,
each in its place,
all the lands of the nations.
12 You also, O Cushites,
shall be slain by my sword.
13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria,
and he will make Nineveh a desolation,
a dry waste like the desert.
14 Herds shall lie down in her midst,
all kinds of beasts;9
even the owl and the hedgehog10
shall lodge in her capitals;
a voice shall hoot in the window;
devastation will be on the threshold;
for her cedar work will be laid bare.
15 This is the hexultant city
that lived securely,
that said in her heart,
i“I am, and there is no one else.”
What a desolation she has become,
a lair for wild beasts!
jEveryone who passes by her
hisses and shakes his fist.
Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
1 Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled,
the koppressing city!
2 She listens to no voice;
she laccepts no correction.
She does not trust in the Lord;
she does not draw near to her God.
3 Her officials within her
are roaring lions;
her judges are mevening wolves
that leave nothing till the morning.
4 Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men;
her priests nprofane what is holy;
they do violence to the law.
5 The Lord within her is righteous;
ohe does no injustice;
every morning he shows forth his justice;
each dawn he does not fail;
but the unjust knows no shame.
6 “I have cut off nations;
their battlements are in ruins;
I have laid waste their streets
so that no one walks in them;
their cities have been made desolate,
without a man, pwithout an inhabitant.
7 I said, ‘Surely you will fear me;
you will accept correction.
Then your11 dwelling would not be cut off
according to all that I have appointed against you.’12
But all the more they were eager
to make all their deeds corrupt.
8 “Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord,
“for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.
For my decision is to gather nations,
to assemble kingdoms,
to qpour out upon them my indignation,
all my burning anger;
for rin the fire of my jealousy
all the earth shall be consumed.
The Conversion of the Nations
9 “For at that time sI will change the speech of the peoples
to a pure speech,
that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord
and serve him with one accord.
10 From beyond the rivers of tCush
my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones,
shall bring my offering.
11 “On that day you shall not be put to shame
because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;
for then I will remove from your midst
your proudly exultant ones,
and you shall no longer be haughty
in my holy mountain.
12 But I will leave in your midst
a people humble and lowly.
They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord,
13 those who are left in Israel;
they shall do no injustice
and speak no lies,
unor shall there be found in their mouth
a deceitful tongue.
For they shall graze and lie down,
and vnone shall make them afraid.”
Israel’s Joy and Restoration
14 wSing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
he has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is xin your midst;
you shall never again fear evil.
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
ylet not your hands grow weak.
17 The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will zrejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
18 I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival,
so that you will no longer suffer reproach.13
19 Behold, at that time I will deal
with all your oppressors.
And aI will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.
20 At that time I will bring you in,
at the time when I gather you together;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I brestore your fortunes
before your eyes,” says the Lord.
Put On the New Self
1 If then you have been draised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, eseated at the right hand of God. 2 fSet your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For gyou have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 hWhen Christ who is your1 life appears, then you also will appear with him iin glory.
5 jPut to death therefore what is earthly in you:2 sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, kwhich is idolatry. 6 lOn account of these the wrath of God is coming.3 7 mIn these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But nnow you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 oDo not lie to one another, seeing that you have pput off the qold self4 with its practices 10 and have rput on the snew self, which is being trenewed in knowledge uafter the image of its creator. 11 Here there is vnot Greek and Jew, wcircumcised and uncircumcised, xbarbarian, Scythian, yslave,5 free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 zPut on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, acompassionate hearts, bkindness, chumility, dmeekness, and epatience, 13 bearing with one another and, fif one has a complaint against another, gforgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And habove all these put on love, which ibinds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the jpeace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were kcalled in lone body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and madmonishing one another in all wisdom, nsinging psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And owhatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the pname of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Rules for Christian Households
18 qWives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 rHusbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 sChildren, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 tFathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22 uBondservants, obey in everything those who are your vearthly masters,6 not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, wfearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, xas for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the yinheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is zno partiality.
