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 1,4 Zeph 1,4
Thou stretchedst out thy right hand,The earth swallowed them.
And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el.
The inhabitants of Samaria shall be in terror for the calves of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and {Hebrew: Chemarim. See 2 Kings 23:5.}the priests thereof that rejoiced over it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
And he put down the {Hebrew: Chemarim. See Hosea 10:5, Zephaniah 1:4.}idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the {Or, twelve signs}planets, and to all the host of heaven.
This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
And they brake down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who shall annul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?