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 3,19 Zeph 3,19
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.
Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall they return hither.
And the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee The city of Jehovah, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is Jehovah; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
For in this mountain will the hand of Jehovah rest; and Moab shall be trodden down in his place, even as straw is trodden down {Another reading is , in the dunghill.}in the water of the dung-hill.
And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst {Or, of them}thereof, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim; but Jehovah will lay low {Or, their}his pride {Or, for all the craft}together with the craft of {Or, their}his hands.
And the high fortress of thy walls {Or, will he bring down, lay low, and bring &c.}hath he brought down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.
I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will feed them in justice.
Instead of your shame ye shall have double; and instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be unto them.
Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, yet they see not: but they shall see {Or, and be put to shame, in their envy at the people}thy zeal for the people, and be put to shame; yea, {Or, the fire of thine adversaries shall devour them}fire shall devour thine adversaries.
In that day, saith Jehovah, will I assemble that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, and that which I have afflicted;
and give him no {Hebrew: silence.}rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
Behold, all they that are incensed against thee shall be put to shame and confounded: they that strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish.
Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contend with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
For I, Jehovah thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith Jehovah, and {Or, thy Redeemer, the Holy One &c.}thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
Behold, I have made thee to be a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
and I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and Jehovah will reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth even for ever.
And this city shall be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I procure unto it.
Thus saith Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down {Or, as otherwise read, all their nobles, even &c.}all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.
I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.
Thus saith Jehovah, who maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
{Or, who…the power: They shall lie &c.}who bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as a wick):
and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not {Or, put out of joint}turned out of the way, but rather be healed.
And they shall bear their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they shall dwell securely in their land, and none shall make them afraid;
But thus saith Jehovah, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I, Jehovah, am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
Thus saith thy Lord Jehovah, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath; thou shalt no more drink it again:
and I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee, that have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy back as the ground, and as the street, to them that go over.
And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hand of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants; and he will have indignation against his enemies.
For, behold, Jehovah will come {Or, in}with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
For by fire will Jehovah execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh; and the slain of Jehovah shall be many.
Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that despoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, saith Jehovah; for I am with thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in {Hebrew: judgement.}measure, and will in no wise {Or, hold these guiltless}leave thee unpunished.
{Hebrew: My wrong and my flesh.}The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the {Hebrew: inhabitress.}inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Speak unto the birds of every sort, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood.
Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
And ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord Jehovah.
And I will set my glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
So the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God, from that day and forward.
I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment upon them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations: and they have parted my land,
and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
Yea, and what are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? {Or, will ye repay a deed of mine, or will ye do aught unto me? swiftly &c.}will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your {Or, deed}recompense upon your own head.
Forasmuch as ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly precious things,
and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem unto the sons of the Grecians, that ye may remove them far from their border;
behold, I will stir them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your {Or, deed}recompense upon your own head;
and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation far off: for Jehovah hath spoken it.
Proclaim ye this among the nations; {Hebrew: sanctify.}prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.
Then mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her who said unto me, Where is Jehovah thy God? Mine eyes shall see my desire upon her; now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
There is one gone forth out of thee, that deviseth evil against Jehovah, {Or, a wicked counsellor}that counselleth {Or, worthlessness Hebrew: Belial}wickedness.
Thus saith Jehovah: Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away. {Or, So will I afflict thee, that I shall afflict &c.}Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.
And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.
And Jehovah hath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.
For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: {Or, After the glory, he hath &c.}After glory hath he sent me unto the nations which plundered you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those that served them; and ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.
In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness.
For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
And I saw {Greek: one.}an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid heaven, Come and be gathered together unto the great supper of God;
that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of {Or, military tribunes Greek: chiliarchs.}captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, and small and great.
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse, and against his army.
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:
and the rest were killed with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of his mouth: and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down {Some ancient authorities insert from God.}out of heaven, and devoured them.