Zephaniah 1:11

He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”

He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, “Cover us!” and the hills, “Fall on us!”

“Therefore wait for me”, says Yahweh, “until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.

Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.

Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.

Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says Yahweh.

But, Yahweh of Armies, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, I will see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause.

He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”

They prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen

But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”

Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness, for you reward every man according to his work.

Wail, for Yahweh’s day is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth;

Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come on us.

“I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

But Yahweh of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you.

Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’

They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing. Their silver and their gold won’t be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath. They won’t satisfy their souls or fill their bellies; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.

As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it; But Yahweh doesn’t accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins. They will return to Egypt.

Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to Yahweh, your God.

If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear,

You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Yahweh searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things. Now I have seen with joy your people, who are present here, offer willingly to you.

then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of the children of men)

I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel. Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind.

won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.

If you say, “Behold, we didn’t know this,” doesn’t he who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, doesn’t he know it? Shall he not render to every man according to his work?

I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned or hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”

Now therefore know certainly that you will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live there.”

Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them will remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There will be nothing of value among them.

“Therefore sigh, you son of man. You shall sigh before their eyes with a broken heart and with bitterness.

The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from Yahweh’s house. The priests, Yahweh’s ministers, mourn.

For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death.

For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury.”

The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, will stand far away for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,

I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.

“Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy.

For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

All Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall not do any more wickedness like this among you.

All the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.

Riches don’t profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.

All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but Yahweh weighs the motives.

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.

They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.

Tremble, you women who are at ease! Be troubled, you careless ones! Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked, and put sackcloth on your waist.

Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.

I will weep and wail for the mountains, and lament for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are burned up, so that no one passes through; Men can’t hear the voice of the livestock. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled. They are gone.

“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a plan against you. Everyone return from his evil way now, and amend your ways and your doings.” ’

A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the leader of the flock, for Yahweh destroys their pasture.

On all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets, there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which no one delights,” says Yahweh.

“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourself in sackcloth. Lament, and run back and forth among the fences; for Malcam will go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.

They will also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.

The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

I will set my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will take away your nose and your ears. Your remnant will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters; and the rest of you will be devoured by the fire.

They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.

before the appointed time when the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Yahweh comes on you, before the day of Yahweh’s anger comes on you.

“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.”

So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.

but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”

You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

And behold, a pale horse, and the name of he who sat on it was Death. Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him.

For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us.

Wail, you shepherds, and cry. Wallow in dust, you leader of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully come, and you will fall like fine pottery.

Cry and wail, son of man; for it is on my people. It is on all the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. Therefore beat your thigh.

“Son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’

For, behold, they have gone away from destruction. Egypt will gather them up. Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their pleasant things of silver. Thorns will be in their tents.

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house.

Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.

To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!”

I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more: