Zephaniah 3:1-20
3 Woe to her that is rebelling* and polluting herself, the oppressive city!+
2 She did not listen to a voice;+ she did not accept discipline.+ In Jehovah she did not trust.+ To her God* she did not draw near.+
3 Her princes in the midst of her were roaring lions.+ Her judges were evening wolves that did not gnaw [bones] till the morning.+
4 Her prophets were insolent, were men of treachery.+ Her priests themselves profaned what was holy; they did violence to [the] law.+
5 Jehovah was righteous in the midst of her;+ he would do no unrighteousness.+ Morning by morning he kept giving his own judicial decision.+ At daylight it did not prove lacking.+ But the unrighteous one was knowing no shame.+
6 “I cut off nations; their corner towers were desolated. I devastated their streets, so that there was no one passing through. Their cities were laid waste, so that there was no man,* so that there was no inhabitant.+
7 I said, ‘Surely you will fear me; you will accept discipline’;+ so that her dwelling might not be cut off+—all that I must call to account against her.+ Truly they acted promptly in making all their dealings ruinous.+
8 “‘Therefore keep yourselves in expectation of me,’+ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘till the day of my rising up* to [the] booty,*+ for my judicial decision is to gather nations,+ for me to collect together kingdoms, in order to pour out upon them my denunciation,+ all my burning anger; for by the fire of my zeal all the earth* will be devoured.+
9 For then I shall give to peoples the change to a pure language,*+ in order for them all to call upon the name of Jehovah,+ in order to serve him shoulder to shoulder.’*+
10 “From the region of the rivers of E·thi·oʹpi·a* the ones entreating me, [namely,] the daughter of my scattered ones, will bring a gift to me.+
11 In that day you* will not be ashamed because of all your dealings with which you transgressed against me,+ for then I shall remove from the midst of you your haughtily exultant ones;+ and you will never again be haughty in my holy mountain.+
12 And I shall certainly let remain in the midst of you a people humble and lowly,+ and they will actually take refuge in the name of Jehovah.+
13 As regards the remaining ones of Israel,+ they will do no unrighteousness,+ nor speak a lie,+ nor will there be found in their mouths a tricky tongue;+ for they themselves will feed and actually lie stretched out,+ and there will be no one making [them] tremble.”+
14 Joyfully cry out, O daughter of Zion! Break out in cheers,+ O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!+
15 Jehovah has removed the judgments upon you.+ He has turned away your enemy.+ The king of Israel, Jehovah, is in the midst of you.+ You will fear calamity no more.+
16 In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not be afraid, O Zion.+ May your hands not drop down.+
17 Jehovah your God* is in the midst of you. As a mighty One,* he will save.+ He will exult over you with rejoicing.+ He will become silent in his love. He will be joyful over you with happy cries.
18 “The ones grief-stricken+ in absence from [your] festal season I shall certainly gather together;+ absent from you* they happened to be, because of bearing reproach on her account.+
19 Here I am acting against all those afflicting you, at that time;+ and I will save her that is limping,+ and her that is dispersed I shall collect together.+ And I will set them as a praise and as a name in all the land of their shame.
20 At that time I shall bring YOU people in, even in the time of my collecting YOU together. For I shall make YOU people to be a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I gather back YOUR captive ones before YOUR eyes,” Jehovah has said.+
Footnotes
^ Or, “that is dirty.”
^ “Her God.” Heb., ʼElo·heyʹha; Gr., The·onʹ.
^ “Man.” Heb., ʼish.
^ “My rising up.” Heb., qu·miʹ; LXX(Gr., a·na·staʹse·osʹ mou)Vg(Lat., re·sur·rec·ti·oʹnis meʹae), “my resurrection.” See Mt 22:23 ftn.
^ “To [the] booty.” Heb., leʽadhʹ; LXXSy and by a different vowel pointing, “to a witness (testimony)”; Lat., in fu·tuʹrum, “in the future.”
^ Or, “the land.” Heb., ha·ʼaʹrets.
^ Lit., “[with] one shoulder.”
^ “Ethiopia,” LXXVg; M(Heb., Khush)Sy, “Cush”; T(Aram.), Hohʹdhu, “India.”
^ “You,” fem. sing., referring to the city.
^ “Your God.” Heb., ʼElo·haʹyikh; Gr., The·osʹ.
^ “You,” fem. sing., referring to the city of Jerusalem.
