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.
The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath
1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven pangels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful qsores came upon the people who bore rthe mark of the beast and sworshiped its image.
3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it tbecame like the blood of a corpse, and uevery living thing died that was in the sea.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters1 say,
“Just are you, O vHoly One, wwho is and who was,
for you brought these judgments.
6 For they have shed the xblood of saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”
7 And I heard the yaltar saying,
“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
ztrue and just are your judgments!”
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed2 the name of God who had power over these plagues. They adid not repent and give him glory.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on bthe throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into cdarkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.
12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, dand its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of ethe dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of fthe false prophet, three unclean spirits like gfrogs. 14 For they are demonic spirits, hperforming signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to iassemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, I am coming jlike a thief! Blessed is the one who kstays awake, lkeeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
The Seventh Bowl
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a mloud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, n“It is done!” 18 And there were oflashes of lightning, rumblings,3 peals of thunder, and a pgreat earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 qThe great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and rGod remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the scup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 And tevery island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21 And great uhailstones, about one hundred pounds4 each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the vplague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.
