The Day of the Lord Is Near

Zephaniah 1

7 m Be silent before the Lord God!
For n the day of the Lord is near;
o the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and p consecrated his guests.
 8 And on the day of the Lord's sacrifice -
q "I will punish the officials and the king's sons
and r all who array themselves in foreign attire.
 9 On that day I will punish
everyone s who leaps over the threshold,
and those who fill their master's 1 house
with violence and fraud.

10 "On that day," declares the Lord,
"a cry will be heard from t the Fish Gate,
u a wail from v the Second Quarter,
a loud crash from the hills.
 11 w Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar!
For all the traders 2 are no more;
all who weigh out silver are cut off.
 12 At that time x I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
y who are complacent, 3
z those who say in their hearts,
'The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do ill.'
 13 Their goods shall be a plundered,
and their houses laid waste.
b Though they build houses,
they shall not inhabit them;
c though they plant vineyards,
they shall not drink wine from them."

14 d The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
e the mighty man cries aloud there.
 15 f A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of g ruin and devastation,
h a day of darkness and gloom,
h a day of clouds and thick darkness,
 16 i a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
j against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.

17 k I will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk l like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
m their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh n like dung.
 18 o Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
p In the fire of his jealousy,
q all the earth shall be consumed;
r for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

  1. Cross References
    Habakkuk 2:20
    But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.
  2. Cross References
    Zephaniah 1:14
    The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.
    Joel 1:15
    Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
  3. Cross References
    Isaiah 34:6
    The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood; it is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
    Jeremiah 46:10
    That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes. The sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
    Ezekiel 39:17
    As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God : Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field, 'Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood.
    Ezekiel 39:19
    And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you.
  4. Cross References
    1 Samuel 16:5
    And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
  5. Cross References
    2 Kings 24:12
    And Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself and his mother and his servants and his officials and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign
    2 Kings 24:14
    He carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained, except the poorest people of the land.
    2 Kings 25:7
    They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.
  6. Cross References
    Matthew 22:11
    But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.
  7. Cross References
    1 Samuel 5:5
    This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
  8. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 33:14
    Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.
  9. Cross References
    Zechariah 11:3
    The sound of the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is ruined! The sound of the roar of the lions, for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
  10. Cross References
    2 Kings 22:14
    So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her.
  11. Cross References
    Zechariah 11:2
    Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been felled!
    James 5:1
    Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
  12. Cross References
    Amos 9:3
    If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.
  13. Cross References
    Jeremiah 48:11
    Moab has been at ease from his youth and has settled on his dregs; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile; so his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.
    Amos 6:1
    Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!
  14. Cross References
    Psalms 94:7
    And they say, "The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.
    Ezekiel 8:12
    Then he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, 'The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.'
    Malachi 2:17
    You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, "How have we wearied him?" By saying, "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them." Or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?
    Malachi 3:14 - 15
    You have said, 'It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?
  15. Cross References
    Isaiah 42:22
    But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, "Restore!
  16. Cross References
    Amos 5:11
    Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
  17. Cross References
    Micah 6:15
    You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
  18. Cross References
    Zephaniah 1:7
    Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.
    Ezekiel 7:7
    Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting on the mountains.
    Ezekiel 7:12
    The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude.
  19. Cross References
    Isaiah 33:7
    Behold, their heroes cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
  20. Cross References
    Joel 1:15
    Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
  21. Cross References
    Job 30:3
    Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation.
  22. Cross References
    Joel 2:2
    A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.
  23. Cross References
    Joel 2:2
    A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.
  24. Cross References
    Jeremiah 4:19
    My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
  25. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:15
    Against every high tower, and against every fortified wall.
  26. Cross References
    Jeremiah 10:18
    For thus says the Lord : "Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress on them, that they may feel it.
  27. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:29
    And you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.
    Isaiah 59:10
    We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
  28. Cross References
    Psalms 79:3
    They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
  29. Cross References
    Psalms 83:10
    Who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground.
  30. Cross References
    Ezekiel 7:19
    They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity.
    Proverbs 11:4
    Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
  31. Cross References
    Zephaniah 3:8
    Therefore wait for me," declares the Lord, "for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.
  32. Cross References
    Ezekiel 36:5
    Therefore thus says the Lord God : Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave my land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, that they might make its pasturelands a prey.
  33. Cross References
    Zephaniah 1:2 - 3
    I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth," declares the Lord.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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