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¹² ‘Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed,
   and found a city on iniquity!’
¹³ Is it not from the Lord of hosts
   that peoples labour only to feed the flames,
   and nations weary themselves for nothing?
¹⁴ But the earth will be filled
   with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
   as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵ ‘Alas for you who make your neighbours drink,
   pouring out your wrath^* until they are drunk,
   in order to gaze on their nakedness!’
¹⁶ You will be sated with contempt instead of glory.
   Drink, you yourself, and stagger!^*
The cup in the Lord’s right hand
   will come around to you,
   and shame will come upon your glory!
¹⁷ For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you;
   the destruction of the animals will terrify you—^*
because of human bloodshed and violence to the earth,
   to cities and all who live in them.

¹⁸ What use is an idol
   once its maker has shaped it—
   a cast image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in what has been made,
   though the product is only an idol that cannot speak!
¹⁹ Alas for you who say to the wood, ‘Wake up!’
   to silent stone, ‘Rouse yourself!’
   Can it teach?
See, it is plated with gold and silver,
   and there is no breath in it at all.

²⁰ But the Lord is in his holy temple;
   let all the earth keep silence before him!

3A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk according to Shigionoth.

The Prophet’s Prayer

² O Lord, I have heard of your renown,
   and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work.
In our own time revive it;
   in our own time make it known;
   in wrath may you remember mercy.
³ God came from Teman,
   the Holy One from Mount Paran.
          Selah
His glory covered the heavens,
   and the earth was full of his praise.
⁴ The brightness was like the sun;
   rays came forth from his hand,
   where his power lay hidden.
⁵ Before him went pestilence,
   and plague followed close behind.
⁶ He stopped and shook the earth;
   he looked and made the nations tremble.
The eternal mountains were shattered;
   along his ancient pathways
   the everlasting hills sank low.
⁷ I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction;
   the tent-curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
⁸ Was your wrath against the rivers,^* O Lord?
   Or your anger against the rivers,^*
   or your rage against the sea,^*
when you drove your horses,
   your chariots to victory?
⁹ You brandished your naked bow,
   sated^* were the arrows at your command.^*
          Selah
   You split the earth with rivers.
¹⁰ The mountains saw you, and writhed;
   a torrent of water swept by;
the deep gave forth its voice.
   The sun^* raised high its hands;
¹¹ the moon^* stood still in its exalted place,
   at the light of your arrows speeding by,
   at the gleam of your flashing spear.
¹² In fury you trod the earth,
   in anger you trampled nations.
¹³ You came forth to save your people,
   to save your anointed.
You crushed the head of the wicked house,
   laying it bare from foundation to roof.^*
          Selah
¹⁴ You pierced with their^* own arrows the head^* of his warriors,^*
   who came like a whirlwind to scatter us,^*
   gloating as if ready to devour the poor who were in hiding.
¹⁵ You trampled the sea with your horses,
   churning the mighty waters.

¹⁶ I hear, and I tremble within;
   my lips quiver at the sound.
Rottenness enters into my bones,
   and my steps tremble^* beneath me.
I wait quietly for the day of calamity
   to come upon the people who attack us.

Trust and Joy in the Midst of Trouble

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not blossom,
   and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails
   and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold
   and there is no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
   I will exult in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength;
   he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
   and makes me tread upon the heights.^*

To the leader: with stringed^* instruments.

Zephaniah

1The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah.

The Coming Judgement on Judah

² I will utterly sweep away everything
   from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
³ I will sweep away humans and animals;
   I will sweep away the birds of the air
   and the fish of the sea.
I will make the wicked stumble.^*
   I will cut off humanity
   from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
⁴ I will stretch out my hand against Judah,
   and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal
   and the name of the idolatrous priests;^*
5 those who bow down on the roofs
   to the host of the heavens;
those who bow down and swear to the Lord,
   but also swear by Milcom;^*
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord,
   who have not sought the Lord or inquired of him.

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^* 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.

The Great Day of the Lord

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.

Judgement on Israel’s Enemies

2Gather together, gather,
   O shameless nation,
² before you are driven away
   like the drifting chaff,^*
before there comes upon you
   the fierce anger of the Lord,
before there comes upon you
   the day of the Lord’s wrath.
³ Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
   who do his commands;
seek righteousness, seek humility;
   perhaps you may be hidden
   on the day of the Lord’s wrath.
⁴ For Gaza shall be deserted,
   and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;
Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon,
   and Ekron shall be uprooted.

⁵ Ah, inhabitants of the sea coast,
   you nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the Lord is against you,
   O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
   and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left.
⁶ And you, O sea coast, shall be pastures,
   meadows for shepherds
   and folds for flocks.
⁷ The sea coast shall become the possession
   of the remnant of the house of Judah,
   on which they shall pasture,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
   they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God will be mindful of them
   and restore their fortunes.