The word of Jehovah which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amarah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah.
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah.
And I will stretch out my hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarim with the priests;
and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship, that swear to Jehovah and swear by {Or, their king}Malcam;
and them that are turned back from following Jehovah; and those that have not sought Jehovah, nor inquired after him.
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jehovah is at hand: for Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath consecrated his guests.
And it shall come to pass in the day of Jehovah's sacrifice, that I will {Hebrew: visit upon.}punish the princes, and the king's sons, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
And in that day I will {Hebrew: visit upon.}punish all those that leap over the threshold, that fill their master's house with violence and deceit.
And in that day, saith Jehovah, there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the {Hebrew: Mishneh.}second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills.
Wail, ye inhabitants of {Or, The mortar}Maktesh; for all {Or, the merchant people}the people of Canaan are undone; all they that were laden with silver are cut off.
And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps; and I will {Hebrew: visit upon.}punish the men that are {Or, thickened}settled on their lees, that say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, neither will he do evil.
And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: yea, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof.
The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of Jehovah; the mighty man crieth there bitterly.
That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high {Or, corner towers}battlements.
And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung.
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he will make an end, yea, a {Or, speedy}terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land.
Querverweise zu Zephanja 1,3 Zeph 1,3
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills {Or, moved lightly}moved to and fro.
I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
I beheld, and, lo, {Or, Carmel}the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, and before his fierce anger.
For thus saith Jehovah, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end.
For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.
Every city fleeth for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they go into the thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwelleth therein.
Therefore by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be {Or, expiated}forgiven, and this is all the fruit {Or, to take away}of taking away his sin: that he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, so that the Asherim and the sun-images shall rise no more.
Son of man, when a land sinneth against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand upon it, and break the staff of the bread thereof, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast;
though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord Jehovah.
If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land, and they {Hebrew: bereave.}ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the beasts;
though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate.
Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, {Or, Let the sword go}Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and beast;
though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves.
Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast;
though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!
How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end.
They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it hath been the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: As the vine-tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so {Or, have I given}will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And I will set my face against them; they {Or, have gone forth}shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I set my face against them.
And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord Jehovah.
Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
Son of man, these men have {Hebrew: caused to come up.}taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?
Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Every man of the house of Israel that taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I Jehovah will answer him {Or, according thereto Another reading is, he is come in the multitude &c.}therein according to the multitude of his idols;
that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Return ye, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that separateth himself from me, and taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire {Or, of him concerning me}for himself of me; I Jehovah will answer him by myself:
Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and became a stumblingblock of iniquity unto the house of Israel; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord Jehovah, and they shall bear their iniquity.
Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods; for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
{Or, O Ephraim, what &c.}Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered, and will regard him: I am like a green fir-tree; from me is thy fruit found.
and I will cut off the cities of thy land, and will throw down all thy strongholds.
And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:
and I will cut off thy graven images and thy { Or, obelisks}pillars out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thy hands;
and I will pluck up thine Asherim out of the midst of thee; and I will destroy thy {Or, enemies}cities.
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.