1 The LORD’s word which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah. 2 I will utterly sweep away everything from the surface of the earth, says the LORD. 3 I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says the LORD. 4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place—the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests, 5 those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by the LORD and also swear by Malcam, 6 those who have turned back from following the LORD, and those who haven’t sought the LORD nor enquired after him. 7 Be silent at the presence of the Lord GOD, for the day of the LORD is at hand. For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests. 8 It will happen in the day of the LORD’s sacrifice that I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all those who are clothed with foreign clothing. 9 In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit. 10 In that day, says the LORD, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. 11 Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were loaded with silver are cut off. 12 It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.” 13 Their wealth will become a plunder, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won’t inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, but won’t drink their wine. 14 The great day of the LORD is near. It is near and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of the LORD. The mighty man cries there bitterly. 15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, 16 a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high battlements. 17 I will bring such distress on men that they will walk like blind men because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.
Zephaniah · World English Bible British Edition (with Deuterocanon)
Zephaniah 1 World English Bible British Edition (with Deuterocanon)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- "World English Bible" is a trademark of eBible.org; the text is shown unaltered.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Amariah
Son of Hezekiah and father of Gedaliah in the ancestry of Zephaniah.
Cited in the guide: Zephaniah 1:1
Cushi
Son of Gedaliah and father of the prophet Zephaniah.
Cited in the guide: Zephaniah 1:1
Gedaliah
Son of Amariah and father of Cushi in the ancestry of Zephaniah.
Cited in the guide: Zephaniah 1:1
Hezekiah
Named as the earliest ancestor in Zephaniah's four-generation line; the text does not say whether he is King Hezekiah.
Cited in the guide: Zephaniah 1:1
Zephaniah
The prophet to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah, with his ancestry traced four generations to Hezekiah.
Cited in the guide: Zephaniah 1:1
Cross references (18)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Jeremiah 1:2; 2 Chronicles 34:1–33; 2 Peter 1:19; Ezekiel 1:3; Hosea 1:1
- 2 Micah 7:13; 2 Kings 22:16–17; Jeremiah 36:29; Ezekiel 33:27–29; Jeremiah 24:8–10
- 3 Hosea 4:3; Ezekiel 7:19; Matthew 23:39; Ezekiel 14:13–21; Isaiah 27:9
- 4 Hosea 10:5; 2 Kings 23:4–5; Micah 5:13; 2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 14:26–27
- 5 2 Kings 17:33; Jeremiah 19:13; 1 Kings 18:21; 1 Kings 11:33; 2 Kings 23:12
- 6 Isaiah 1:4; Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 15:6; Jeremiah 2:17; Isaiah 9:13
- 7 Habakkuk 2:20; Zechariah 2:13; Zephaniah 1:14; Isaiah 34:6; Jeremiah 46:10
- 8 Isaiah 24:21; Isaiah 3:18–24; Isaiah 39:7; 2 Kings 25:19–21; Jeremiah 22:11–19
- 9 1 Samuel 5:5; Amos 3:10; Nehemiah 5:15; 1 Samuel 2:15–16; 2 Kings 5:20–27
- 10 2 Chronicles 33:14; Amos 8:3; 2 Kings 22:14; Jeremiah 4:19–21; Nehemiah 3:3
- 11 James 5:1; Hosea 12:7–8; Ezekiel 21:12; Jeremiah 25:34; Nehemiah 3:31–32
- 12 Amos 6:1; Jeremiah 48:11; Ezekiel 8:12; Ezekiel 9:9; Malachi 3:14–15
- 13 Amos 5:11; Micah 6:15; Deuteronomy 28:30; Deuteronomy 28:39; Ezekiel 7:21
- 14 Malachi 4:5; Ezekiel 30:3; Zephaniah 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Isaiah 15:4
- 15 Joel 2:2; Isaiah 22:5; Revelation 6:17; Jeremiah 30:7; Amos 5:18–20
- 16 Hosea 8:1; Isaiah 2:12–15; Amos 3:6; Isaiah 32:14; Jeremiah 4:19–20
- 17 Revelation 3:17; Psalm 83:10; 2 Peter 1:9; Matthew 15:14; Micah 7:13
- 18 Ezekiel 7:19; Zephaniah 3:8; Proverbs 11:4; Zephaniah 1:2–3; Matthew 16:26
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences