bible in basic english - old testament - zephaniah

7/29/2019 Bible in Basic English - Old Testament - Zephaniah

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T H E B O O K O F

Z E P H A N I A H

CHAPTER 11 The word of the Lord which

came to Zephaniah, the sonof Cushi, the son of Gedaliah,the son of Amariah, the son ofHezekiah, in the days of Josi-ah, the son of Amon, king ofJudah.2 I will take away everything

from the face of the earth,says the Lord.

3 I wi l l take away man andbeast ; I w il l take away thebirds of the heaven and thefishes of the sea; causing thedownfal l of the evi l-doers,and cutting man off from theface of the earth, says theLord.4 And my hand will be

stretched out on Judah and onall the people of Jerusalem,cutting off the name of theBaal from this place, and thename of the false priests,5 And the worshippers of the

army of heaven on the house-tops, and the Lords worship-pers who take oaths by Mil -com,6 And those who are turned

back from going after theLord, and those who have notmade prayer to the Lord orgot directions from him.7 Let there be no sound be-

fore the Lord God: for the dayof the Lord is near: for theLord has made ready an offer-ing, he has made his guests

holy.8 And i t wi l l come about in

the day of the Lords offering,that I will send punishment onthe rulers and the kings sonsand a ll who are c lothed inrobes from strange lands.9 And in that day I will send

punishment on all those whocome jumping over thedoorstep and make their mas-

ters house full of violent be-haviour and deceit.10 And in that day, says the

Lord, there will be the soundof a cry f rom the f ish door-way, and an outcry from thenew town, and a great thun-dering f rom the h ills , andcries of grief from the peopleof the Hollow;11 Because of the downfal l

of all the people of Canaan:all those who were weighteddown with silver have beencut off.12 And it will come about at

that time, that I will gosearching through Jerusalemwith l ights; and I wil l sendpunishment on the men whohave become like wine storedover-long, who say to them-selves, The Lord wil l not dogood and will not do evil.13 And their wealth wil l be

vio lently taken away, andtheir houses will be madewaste: they wil l go on build-ing houses and never living in

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Z E P H A N I A H

them, and planting vine-gar-dens but not drinking thewine from them.14 The great day of the Lord

is near, it is near and coming

very quickly; the bitter day ofthe Lord is near, coming onmore quickly than a man ofwar.15 That day is a day of

wrath, a day of trouble andsorrow, a day of wasting anddestruction, a day of darknight and deep shade, a dayof cloud and thick dark.16 A day of sounding the

horn and the war-cry againstthe walled towns and the hightowers.17 And I will send trouble on

men so that they will goabout l ike the blind, becausethey have done evi l againstthe Lord: and their blood willbe drained out l ike dust, andtheir strength like waste.18 Even their silver and their

gold wil l not be able to keepthem safe in the day of theLords wrath; but all the landwil l be burned up in the fireof his bitter wrath: for he willput an end, even suddenly, toall who are living in the land.

CHAPTER 21 Come together, make ev-

eryone come together, O na-

tion without shame;2 Before the Lord sends you

violent ly away in f light l ikethe waste from the grain; be-fore the burning wrath of theLord comes on you, beforethe day of the Lords wrathcomes on you.

3 Make search for the Lord,all you quiet ones of theearth, who have done what isright in his eyes; make searchfor righteousness and a quiet

heart: it may be that you willbe safely covered in the dayof the Lords wrath.4 For Gaza wil l be given up

and Ashke lon will becomewaste: they will send Ashdodout in the middle of the day,and Ekron will be uprooted.5 Sorrow to the people living

by the sea, the nation of theCherethites! The word of the

Lord is against you, OCanaan, the land of thePhilis tines ; I will send de-struction on you til l there isno one living in you.6 And the land by the sea

will be grass-land, with hous-es for keepers of sheep andwalled places for flocks.7 The land by the sea will be

for the rest of the children of

Judah; by the sea they willgive their f locks food: in thehouses of Ashkelon they wil ltake their rest in the evening;for the Lord their God wi lltake them in hand and theirfate will be changed.8 My ears have been open to

the bitter words of Moab andthe words o f shame of thech ildren of Ammon, which

they have said against mypeople, l ifting themselves upagainst the limit of their land.9 For this cause, by my life,

says the Lord of armies, theGod of Israel, truly Moab willbecome l ike Sodom and thechi ldren of Ammon l ike Go-

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Z E P H A N I A H

morrah, g iven up to wasteplants and salt pools and un-peopled for ever: the rest ofmy people will take theirproperty, the overflow of my

nation wi ll take their her-itage.10 This will be their fate be-

cause of their pride, becausethey have said evi l, l ift ingthemselves up against thepeople of the Lord of armies.11 The Lord wil l let himself

be seen by them: for he wil lmake all the gods of the earthfeeble; and men will go down

before him in worship, every-one from his place, even al lthe sea-lands of the nations.12 And you Ethiopians will be

put to death by my sword.13 And his hand will be

stretched out against thenorth, for the destruction ofAssyria; and he will make Nin-eveh unpeopled and dry l ikethe waste land.

14 And herds will take theirrest in the middle of her, al lthe beasts of the val ley: thepelican and the porcupine willmake their l iv ing-places onthe tops of its pillars; the owlwill be crying in the window;the raven will be seen on thedoorstep.15 This is the town which

was full of joy, l iving without

fear of danger, saying in herheart , I am, and there is noother: how has she beenmade waste, a place forbeasts to take their rest in!everyone who goes by her willmake hisses, waving his hand.

CHAPTER 31 Sorrow to her who is un-

controlled and unclean, thecruel town!

2 She gave no attention tothe voice, she had no use forteaching, she put no faith inthe Lord, she did not comenear to her God.3 Her rulers are l ike loud-

voiced lions in her; her judgesare wolves of the evening,crushing up the bones beforethe morning.4 Her prophets are good-for-

nothing persons, ful l of de-ceit: her priests have madethe holy place unclean andhave gone violently againstthe law.5 The Lord in her is upright;

he will not do evil; everymorning he lets his righteous-ness be seen, he is unchang-ing; but the evi l-doer has nosense of shame.

6 I have had the nations cutoff, their towers are brokendown; I have made theirstreets a waste so that no onegoes through them: destruc-tion has overtaken theirtowns, so that there is noman living in them.7 I said, Certainly you will go

in fear of me, and come undermy training, so that whatever

I may send on her may not becut off before her eyes: butthey got up ear ly and madeall their works evil.8 For this reason, go on wait-

ing for me, says the Lord, ti l lthe day when I come up as awitness: for my purpose is to

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send for the nat ions and toget the kingdoms together, sothat I may let loose on themmy passion, even all my burn-ing wrath: for a ll the earth

wil l be burned up in the fireof my bitter passion.9 For then I will give the peo-

ple a clean language, so thatthey may al l make prayer tothe Lord and be his servantswith one mind.10 From over the r ivers of

Ethiopia, and from the sidesof the north, they wil l cometo me with an offering.

11 In that day you will haveno shame on account of a llthe things in which you didevil against me: for then I willtake away from among youthose who were l if ted up inpride, and you will no longerbe l i fted up with pride in myholy mountain.12 But I will still have among

you a quiet and poor people,

and they will put their faith inthe name of the Lord.13 The rest of Israel wil l do

no evil and say no falsewords; the tongue of deceitwill not be seen in theirmouth: for they will take theirfood and the ir rest , and noone will be a cause of fear tothem.14 Make melody, O daughter

of Zion; give a loud cry, O Is-rael; be glad and let yourheart be full of joy, O daugh-ter of Jerusalem.15 The Lord has taken away

those who were judging you,he has sent your haters faraway: the King of Israel, even

the Lord, is among you: youwill have no more fear of evil.16 In that day it will be said

to Jerusalem, Have no fear: OZion, let not your hands be

feeble.17 The Lord your God is

among you, as a strongsaviour: he wil l be glad overyou with joy, he will make hislove new again, he will makea song of joy over you as inthe time of a holy feast.18 I will take away your trou-

bles, l ift ing up your shamefrom off you.

19 See, at that time I will putan end to al l who have beentroubling you: I wil l give sal-vation to her whose steps areuncertain, and get togetherher who has been sent inflight; and I will make them acause of praise and an hon-oured name in al l the earth,when I let their fate bechanged.

20 At that t ime I wil l makeyou come in, at that t ime Iwill get you together: for I willmake you a name and apraise among all the peoplesof the earth when I let yourfate be changed before youreyes, says the Lord.

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bible in basic english - old testament - zephaniah

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