The Day of the Lord Is Near

Zephaniah 1

⁷ Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is at hand;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice,
he has consecrated his guests.
⁸ And on the day of the Lord's sacrifice
I will punish the officials and the king's sons
and all who dress themselves in foreign attire.
⁹ On that day I will punish
all who leap over the threshold,
who fill their master's house
with violence and fraud.

¹⁰ On that day, says the Lord,
a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
a wail from the Second Quarter,
a loud crash from the hills.
¹¹ The inhabitants of the Mortar wail,
for all the traders have perished;
all who weigh out silver are cut off.
¹² At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the people
who rest complacently ₁ on their dregs,
those who say in their hearts,
"The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do harm."
¹³ Their wealth shall be plundered,
and their houses laid waste.
Though they build houses,
they shall not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards,
they shall not drink wine from them.

¹⁴ The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter,
the warrior cries aloud there.
¹⁵ That day will be a day of wrath,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
¹⁶ a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.

¹⁷ I will bring such distress upon people
that they shall walk like the blind;
because they have sinned against the Lord,
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord's wrath;
in the fire of his passion
the whole earth shall be consumed;
for a full, a terrible end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.