Woe to her that is rebellious and polluted! to the oppressing city!
She obeyed not the voice; she received not {Or, instruction}correction; she trusted not in Jehovah; she drew not near to her God.
Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they {Or, gnaw not the bones on the morrow}leave nothing till the morrow.
Her prophets are light and treacherous persons; her priests have profaned the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.
Jehovah in the midst of her is righteous; he will not do iniquity; {Hebrew: morning by morning.}every morning doth he bring his justice to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
I have cut off nations; their {Or, corner towers}battlements are desolate; I have made their streets waste, so that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant.
I said, Only fear thou me; receive {Or, instruction}correction; so her dwelling shall not be cut off, {Or, however I have punished her}according to all that I have appointed concerning her: but they rose early and corrupted all their doings.
Therefore wait ye for me, saith Jehovah, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my {Hebrew: judgement.}determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
For then will I turn to the peoples of a pure {Hebrew: lip.}language, that they may all call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve him with one {Hebrew: shoulder.}consent.
From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia {Or, shall they bring my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, for an offering unto me}my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.
In that day shalt thou not be put to shame for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of thee {Or, them that exult in thy majesty}thy proudly exulting ones, and thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain.
But I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall take refuge in the name of Jehovah.
The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Jehovah hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the King of Israel, even Jehovah, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not {Another reading is see.}fear evil any more.
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not; {Or, and to Zion}O Zion, let not thy hands be slack.
Jehovah thy God is in the midst of thee, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will {Hebrew: be silent.}rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing.
{Or, They have been sorrowful for the solemn assembly which I took away from thee, for the lifting up of reproach against her}I will gather them that sorrow for the solemn assembly, who were of thee; to whom the burden upon {According to another reading, thee.}her was a reproach.
Behold, at that time I will deal with all them that afflict thee; and I will save that which is lame, and gather that which was driven away; and I will make them a praise and a name, whose shame hath been in all the earth.
At that time I will bring you in, and at that time I will gather you; for I will make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I {Or, return to}bring back your captivity before your eyes, saith Jehovah.
Querverweise zu Zephanja 3,4 Zeph 3,4
The elder and the honorable man, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
Now the sons of Eli were base men; they knew not Jehovah.
And the custom of the priests with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand;
and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the flesh-hook brought up the priest took therewith. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.
Yea, before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have boiled flesh of thee, but raw.
And if the man said unto him, They will surely burn the fat {Hebrew: to-day.}first, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then {Another reading is, he would say unto him, Thou &c.}he would say, Nay, but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.
And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah; for the men despised the offering of Jehovah.
His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
Yea, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds that cannot understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, {Or, one and all}from every quarter.
Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, a day great beyond measure.
Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, and how that they lay with the women that did service at the door of the tent of meeting.
the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule {Or, at their hands}by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
in that ye have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, {Or, in all}to add unto all your abominations.
They have healed also the {Or, breach}hurt of {Another reading is, the daughter of my people, as in chapter 8:11, 21}my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things; but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall possess them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, {According to another reading, I have rejected.}I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.
As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame.
They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity.
Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you {Hebrew: peace of truth.}assured peace in this place.
Then Jehovah said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them: they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their own heart.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
But ye are turned aside out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble in the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts.
Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of Jehovah, and because of his holy words.
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of {Or, the curse}swearing the land mourneth; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right;
for both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith Jehovah.
Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil upon them, {Or, in the year}even the year of their visitation, saith Jehovah.
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of {Or, poison}gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Jehovah.
They say continually unto them that despise me, Jehovah hath said, Ye shall have peace; and unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come upon you.
I have heard what the prophets have said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
that think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgat my name for Baal.
Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith Jehovah, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at all, saith Jehovah.
And hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you.
For I have not sent them, saith Jehovah, but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that ye may perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.
Thy prophets have seen for thee false and foolish visions;And they have not uncovered thine iniquity, to bring back thy captivity,But have seen for thee false {Hebrew: burdens.}oracles and {Or, things to draw thee aside}causes of banishment.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, {Or, and things which they have not seen}and have seen nothing!
O Israel, thy prophets have been like foxes in the waste places.
Ye have not gone up into the {Or, breaches}gaps, neither built up the wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah.
They have seen falsehood and lying divination, that say, Jehovah saith; but Jehovah hath not sent them: and they {Or, have hoped}have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed.
Have ye not seen a false vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, in that ye say, Jehovah saith; albeit I have not spoken?
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye have spoken falsehood, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord Jehovah.
And my hand shall be against the prophets that see false visions, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the {Or, secret}council of my people, neither shall they be written in the {Or, register}writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.
Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one buildeth up {Or, a slight wall}a wall, behold, they daub it with {Or, whitewash So in verse 11, 14, 15.}untempered mortar:
say unto them that daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my wrath; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it.
So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be uncovered; and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar; and I will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
to wit, the prophets of Israel that prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and that see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord Jehovah.
The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the man that hath the spirit is mad, for the abundance of thine iniquity, and because the enmity is great.
If a man walking {Or, in wind and falsehood}in a spirit of falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and whoso putteth not into their mouths, they even {Hebrew: sanctify.}prepare war against him:
Therefore it shall be night unto you, that ye shall have no vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.
But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in {Or, sects of perdition}destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of.
And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that {See marginal note on chapter 3:9}worshipped his image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone: