The Berean Pursuit
The word of Yahweh that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.
"I will surely destroy everything
from the face of the earth"—a declaration of Yahweh.
"I will destroy humanity and beast;
I will destroy the birds of the sky
and the fish of the sea,
and the stumbling blocks with the wicked.
And I will cut off humankind
from the face of the earth"—a declaration of Yahweh.
"And I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And I will cut off from this place
the remnant of Baal,
and the name of idolatrous priests with the priests,
and those who bow down on the rooftops
to the host of heaven,
and those who bow down, swearing to Yahweh
but also swearing by Milkom,
and those who turned back from following Yahweh,
and who did not seek Yahweh,
and did not inquire of him."
Be silent before the Lord Yahweh,
for the day of Yahweh draws near,
for Yahweh has provided a sacrifice
and has consecrated his guests.
And it shall be that on the day of the sacrifice of Yahweh,
I will punish the officials
and the sons of the king
and those who dress in foreign clothing.
And on that day I will punish
all who leap over the threshold,
who fill up the house of their master
with violence and deceit.
"And there shall be on that day"—a declaration of Yahweh—
"a loud outcry from the Fish Gate,
and a wailing from the Second District,
and a loud crashing from the hills.
The inhabitants of the Mortar shall wail,
for all the traders have perished;
all who trade with silver have been cut off.
And it shall be that at that time
I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
whose senses are dulled from drinking,
who say in their hearts,
‘Yahweh will not do good, nor will he do evil.’
Then their wealth shall be as plunder,
and their homes as desolation.
And they shall build their houses and not inhabit them,
and they shall plant vineyards and not drink their wine."
The great day of Yahweh draws near;
it is near and coming very swiftly.
The sound of the day of Yahweh is bitterness;
there, a warrior cries out!
That day will be a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress,
a day of disaster and ruination,
a day of darkness and deep gloom,
a day of clouds and thick clouds,
a day of trumpet and trumpet blast
against the fortified cities
and against the high corner towers.
And I will bring distress to all humankind,
and they shall walk about like the blind,
for they sinned against Yahweh;
their blood shall be poured out like dust
and their entrails like dung.
Moreover, their silver and their gold
will not be able to save them
on the day of the wrath of Yahweh.
And in the fire of his zeal,
the whole land shall be consumed,
for a terrifying end he shall make
for all the inhabitants of the land.
Gather yourselves together! Now gather together,
O nation having no shame!
Before the birth of the decree,
the day flies away like chaff;
before the fierce anger of Yahweh overtakes you;
before the day of the anger of Yahweh overtakes you.
Seek Yahweh, all you afflicted of the land
who have fulfilled his law;
seek righteousness;
seek humility.
Perhaps you will be concealed
on the day of the anger of Yahweh.
For Gaza will be abandoned,
and Ashkelon as a desolation.
As for Ashdod, at noon they will drive her away,
and Ekron shall be uprooted.
Woe to you, inhabitants of the region of the sea,
people of the Kerethites!
The word of Yahweh is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines.
I will destroy you until there is no inhabitant.
And you, O region of the sea, shall become
pastures and meadows for shepherds
and sheep pens for the flocks.
And it shall become a region
for the remnant of the house of Judah;
upon them they shall graze,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
they shall lie down in the evening.
For Yahweh their God shall be mindful of them,
and he will restore their fortunes.
I have heard the reproaches of Moab
and the scorning of the Ammonites,
with which they have taunted my nation
and made boasts against their territory.
"Therefore, as I live"—a declaration of Yahweh of hosts,
the God of Israel—
"Moab shall be as Sodom,
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,
a place of weeds and salt pits
and a desolation forever.
The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
and the remainder of my nation shall possess them."
This shall be for them in place of their pride
because they mocked and boasted
against the people of Yahweh of hosts.
Yahweh will be awesome against them,
for he will destroy all the gods of the earth
and all the lands of the nations;
each in its place will bow down to him.
You also, O Cushites,
they shall be killed by my sword.
And he will stretch out his hand against the north,
and he will destroy Assyria
and will make Nineveh a desolation,
a dry wasteland like the desert.
Herds shall lie down in her midst,
every wild animal of a nation;
even the desert owl and the screech owl
shall lodge on her capitals.
A voice shall hoot in the window;
rubble on the threshold;
for the cedar is laid bare.
This is the city of rejoicing
that lived securely;
the one saying in her heart,
"I am, and there is none besides me."
How she has become a desolation,
a lair for wild animals!
Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.
Woe to you, O rebellious and defiled one!
The oppressing city!
She listens to no voice;
she does not accept correction.
In Yahweh she does not trust;
to her God she does not draw near.
Her officials in her midst are roaring lions;
her judges are evening wolves;
they leave nothing until the morning.
Her prophets are arrogant men of treachery;
her priests have defiled that which is holy;
they do violence to the law.
Yahweh is righteous in her midst;
he does not do wickedness.
Morning by morning he renders his judgment;
at dawn he does not fail,
but an evil one knows no shame.
"I have cut off nations;
their strongholds are deserted.
I have laid waste their streets,
so that none pass through.
Their cities have been destroyed
and are without a man, without an inhabitant.
I have said, ‘Surely she will fear me;
she will accept discipline.
Then her dwelling place will not be cut down,
nor all that I have brought upon her.’
Surely they rise early;
they make all their deeds corrupt.
"Therefore, wait for me"—a declaration of Yahweh—
"for the day of my rising as a witness.
For my decision is to gather nations,
to assemble kingdoms,
to pour out my wrath upon them, all my burning anger.
For by the fire of my anger all the land shall be consumed.
Because then I will make the speech of the nations pure;
that all of them might call on the name of Yahweh,
to serve him in unison.
From beyond the rivers of Cush
my worshipers and the daughter of my scattered ones
shall bring my offering.
On that day you shall not be humiliated
on account of all your deeds
by which you have rebelled against me.
For then I shall remove from your midst
those exulting in your pride,
and you shall no longer be haughty
in my holy mountain.
And I will leave in your midst
a people afflicted and poor,
and they shall take refuge
in the name of Yahweh.
The remnant of Israel
shall not do wickedness;
they shall not speak deception,
nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth.
For they shall graze and lie down,
and none shall frighten them."
Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion!
Cry aloud, O Israel!
Rejoice and be jubilant with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
Yahweh has annulled your judgments;
he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst;
you shall no longer fear misfortune.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem,
"Fear not, O Zion;
your hands shall not hang limp.
Yahweh your God is in your midst;
a mighty warrior who saves.
He shall rejoice over you with joy;
he renews you in his love;
he will exult over you with singing.
I will gather those of you grieving on account of the feast;
they were raising against her a reproach.
Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors;
I will save the lame and gather the outcast.
I will change them from shame
to glory and renown throughout the whole world.
At that time I will bring you in;
at the time of my gathering you together.
For I will make you renowned and praised
among all the nations of the earth
when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,"
says Yahweh.
Why, O God, have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger smoke
against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your congregation that you bought long ago,
when you redeemed the tribe of your inheritance.
Remember Mount Zion where you have dwelt.
Lift your steps to the perpetual ruins,
to all that the enemy has ruined in the sanctuary.
Your enemies have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they have set up their signs for signs.
They are known to be like those who wield
axes in a thicket of trees.
And now its carved works altogether
they have smashed with axe and hammer.
They have set fire to your sanctuary.
They have defiled to the ground,
the dwelling place for your name.
They have said in their heart,
"We will completely oppress them."
They burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
We do not see our signs,
and there is no longer a prophet.
No one with us knows how long.
How long, O God, will the adversary taunt?
Will the enemy treat your name with contempt forever?
Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?
Take it from your bosom; destroy them!
But God has been my king from long ago,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
You split open the sea by your strength;
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food to the desert dwelling creatures.
You split open spring and wadi.
You dried up ever-flowing rivers.
Yours is the day, yours is the night also.
You established light and the sun.
You defined all the boundaries of the earth;
Summer and winter—you formed them.
O Yahweh, remember this: the enemy taunts,
and foolish people treat your name with contempt.
Do not give to beasts the life of your dove;
do not ever forget the life of your afflicted ones.
Have regard for the covenant,
because the dark places of the land are full of
the haunts of violence.
Do not let the oppressed turn back humiliated;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember the reproaching of you by the foolish all day long.
Do not forget the sound of your adversaries,
the roar of those rising up against you ascending continually.
Now we make known to you, brothers, the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, that with a great ordeal of affliction, the abundance of their joy and the extreme depth of their poverty have overflowed to the wealth of their generosity. I testify that they gave according to their ability, and beyond their ability, by their own choice, requesting of us with much exhortation the favor and the fellowship of the ministry to the saints, and not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, by the will of God. So we urged Titus that, just as he had previously begun it, thus he would also complete for you this act of grace. But just as you excel in everything—in faith and in speaking and in knowledge and with all diligence and in the love from us that is in you—so may you excel in this grace also. I am not saying this as a command, but proving the genuineness of your love by means of the diligence of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, for your sake he became poor, in order that you, by his poverty, may become rich. And I am giving an opinion in this matter, because this is profitable for you who not only began previously, a year ago, to do something, but also to want to do it. So now also complete the doing of it, in order that just as you have the eagerness to want to do it, thus also you may complete it from what you have. For if the eagerness is present according to what one has, it is acceptable not according to what one does not have. For this is not that for others there may be relief, and for you difficult circumstances, but as a matter of equality. At the present time your abundance will be for their need, in order that their abundance may also be for your need, so that there may be equality, just as it is written, "The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little."
But thanks be to God, who has put in the heart of Titus the same devotion on your behalf, because he not only welcomed our request, but being very earnest, by his own choice he went out to you. And we have sent at the same time with him the brother whose praise in the gospel has become known throughout all the churches. And not only this, but he was also chosen by the churches as our traveling companion together with this gift that is being administered by us to the glory of the Lord himself and to show our readiness to help. We are trying to avoid this, lest anyone should find fault with us in this abundant gift that is being administered by us. For we are taking into consideration what is honorable not only before the Lord, but also before people. And we are sending with them our brother whom we have tested many times in many things that he is diligent, but now much more diligent because of his great confidence in you. If there is a question concerning Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for you. If there is a question concerning our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. Therefore show to them the proof of your love and our boasting about you openly before the churches.