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This is the message that the LORD gave to Zephaniah during the time that Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah. (Zephaniah was descended from King Hezekiah through Amariah, Gedaliah, and Cushi.)
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The LORD said, "I am going to destroy everything on earth,
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all human beings and animals, birds and fish. I will bring about the downfall of the wicked. I will destroy everyone, and no survivors will be left. I, the LORD, have spoken.
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"I will punish the people of Jerusalem and of all Judah. I will destroy the last trace of the worship of Baal there, and no one will even remember the pagan priests who serve him.
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I will destroy anyone who goes up on the roof and worships the sun, the moon, and the stars. I will also destroy those who worship me and swear loyalty to me, but then take oaths in the name of the god Molech.
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I will destroy those who have turned back and no longer follow me, those who do not come to me or ask me to guide them."
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The day is near when the LORD will sit in judgment; so be silent in his presence. The LORD is preparing to sacrifice his people and has invited enemies to plunder Judah.
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"On that day of slaughter," says the LORD, "I will punish the officials, the king's sons, and all who practice foreign customs.
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I will punish all who worship like pagans and who steal and kill in order to fill their master's house with loot.
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"On that day," says the LORD, "you will hear the sound of crying at the Fish Gate in Jerusalem. You will hear wailing in the newer part of the city and a great crashing sound in the hills.
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Wail and cry when you hear this, you that live in the lower part of the city, because all the merchants will be dead!
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"At that time I will take a lamp and search Jerusalem. I will punish the people who are self-satisfied and confident, who say to themselves, 'The LORD never does anything, one way or the other.'
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Their wealth will be looted and their houses destroyed. They will never live in the houses they are building or drink wine from the vineyards they are planting."
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The great day of the LORD is near---very near and coming fast! That day will be bitter, for even the bravest soldiers will cry out in despair!
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It will be a day of fury, a day of trouble and distress, a day of ruin and destruction, a day of darkness and gloom, a black and cloudy day,
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a day filled with the sound of war trumpets and the battle cry of soldiers attacking fortified cities and high towers.
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The LORD says, "I will bring such disasters on the human race that everyone will grope about like someone blind. They have sinned against me, and now their blood will be poured out like water, and their dead bodies will lie rotting on the ground."
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On the day when the LORD shows his fury, not even all their silver and gold will save them. The whole earth will be destroyed by the fire of his anger. He will put an end---a sudden end---to everyone who lives on earth.
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Shameless nation, come to your senses
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before you are driven away like chaff blown by the wind, before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day when he shows his fury.
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Turn to the LORD, all you humble people of the land, who obey his commands. Do what is right, and humble yourselves before the LORD. Perhaps you will escape punishment on the day when the LORD shows his anger.
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No one will be left in the city of Gaza. Ashkelon will be deserted. The people of Ashdod will be driven out in half a day, and the people of Ekron will be driven from their city.
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You Philistines are doomed, you people who live along the coast. The LORD has passed sentence on you. He will destroy you, and not one of you will be left.
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Your land by the sea will become open fields with shepherd's huts and sheep pens.
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The people of Judah who survive will occupy your land. They will pasture their flocks there and sleep in the houses of Ashkelon. The LORD their God will be with them and make them prosper again.
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The LORD Almighty says, "I have heard the people of Moab and Ammon insulting and taunting my people, and boasting that they would seize their land.
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As surely as I am the living LORD, the God of Israel, I swear that Moab and Ammon are going to be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah. They will become a place of salt pits and everlasting ruin, overgrown with weeds. Those of my people who survive will plunder them and take their land."
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That is how the people of Moab and Ammon will be punished for their pride and arrogance and for insulting the people of the LORD Almighty.
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The LORD will terrify them. He will reduce the gods of the earth to nothing, and then every nation will worship him, each in its own land.
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The LORD will also put the people of Ethiopia to death.
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The LORD will use his power to destroy Assyria. He will make the city of Nineveh a deserted ruin, a waterless desert.
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It will be a place where flocks, herds, and animals of every kind will lie down. Owls will live among its ruins and hoot from the windows. Crows will caw on the doorsteps. The cedar wood of her buildings will be stripped away.
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That is what will happen to the city that is so proud of its own power and thinks it is safe. Its people think that their city is the greatest in the world. What a desolate place it will become, a place where wild animals will rest! Everyone who passes by will shrink back in horror.
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Jerusalem is doomed, that corrupt, rebellious city that oppresses its own people.
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It has not listened to the LORD or accepted his discipline. It has not put its trust in the LORD or asked for his help.
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Its officials are like roaring lions; its judges are like hungry wolves, too greedy to leave a bone until morning.
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The prophets are irresponsible and treacherous; the priests defile what is sacred, and twist the law of God to their own advantage.
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But the LORD is still in the city; he does what is right and never what is wrong. Every morning without fail, he brings justice to his people. And yet the unrighteous people there keep on doing wrong and are not ashamed.
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The LORD says, "I have wiped out whole nations; I have destroyed their cities and left their walls and towers in ruins. The cities are deserted; the streets are empty---no one is left.
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I thought that then my people would have reverence for me and accept my discipline, that they would never forget the lesson I taught them. But soon they were behaving as badly as ever.
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"Just wait," the LORD says. "Wait for the day when I rise to accuse the nations. I have made up my mind to gather nations and kingdoms in order to let them feel the force of my anger. The whole earth will be destroyed by the fire of my fury.
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"Then I will change the people of the nations, and they will pray to me alone and not to other gods. They will all obey me.
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Even from distant Ethiopia my scattered people will bring offerings to me.
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At that time you, my people, will no longer need to be ashamed that you rebelled against me. I will remove everyone who is proud and arrogant, and you will never again rebel against me on my sacred hill.
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I will leave there a humble and lowly people, who will come to me for help.
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The people of Israel who survive will do no wrong to anyone, tell no lies, nor try to deceive. They will be prosperous and secure, afraid of no one."
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Sing and shout for joy, people of Israel! Rejoice with all your heart, Jerusalem!
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The LORD has stopped your punishment; he has removed all your enemies. The LORD, the king of Israel, is with you; there is no reason now to be afraid.
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The time is coming when they will say to Jerusalem, "Do not be afraid, city of Zion! Do not let your hands hang limp!
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The LORD your God is with you; his power gives you victory. The LORD will take delight in you, and in his love he will give you new life. He will sing and be joyful over you,
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as joyful as people at a festival." The LORD says, "I have ended the threat of doom and taken away your disgrace.
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The time is coming! I will punish your oppressors; I will rescue all the lame and bring the exiles home. I will turn their shame to honor, and all the world will praise them.
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The time is coming! I will bring your scattered people home; I will make you famous throughout the world and make you prosperous once again." The LORD has spoken.
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As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind.
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His disciples asked him, "Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born blind? Was it his own or his parents' sin?"
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Jesus answered, "His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents' sins. He is blind so that God's power might be seen at work in him.
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As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me; night is coming when no one can work.
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While I am in the world, I am the light for the world."
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After he said this, Jesus spat on the ground and made some mud with the spittle; he rubbed the mud on the man's eyes
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and told him, "Go and wash your face in the Pool of Siloam." (This name means "Sent.") So the man went, washed his face, and came back seeing.
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His neighbors, then, and the people who had seen him begging before this, asked, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?"
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Some said, "He is the one," but others said, "No he isn't; he just looks like him." So the man himself said, "I am the man."
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"How is it that you can now see?" they asked him.
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He answered, "The man called Jesus made some mud, rubbed it on my eyes, and told me to go to Siloam and wash my face. So I went, and as soon as I washed, I could see."
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"Where is he?" they asked. "I don't know," he answered.
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Then they took to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.
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The day that Jesus made the mud and cured him of his blindness was a Sabbath.
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The Pharisees, then, asked the man again how he had received his sight. He told them, "He put some mud on my eyes; I washed my face, and now I can see."
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Some of the Pharisees said, "The man who did this cannot be from God, for he does not obey the Sabbath law." Others, however, said, "How could a man who is a sinner perform such miracles as these?" And there was a division among them.
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So the Pharisees asked the man once more, "You say he cured you of your blindness---well, what do you say about him?" "He is a prophet," the man answered.
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The Jewish authorities, however, were not willing to believe that he had been blind and could now see, until they called his parents
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and asked them, "Is this your son? You say that he was born blind; how is it, then, that he can now see?"
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His parents answered, "We know that he is our son, and we know that he was born blind.
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But we do not know how it is that he is now able to see, nor do we know who cured him of his blindness. Ask him; he is old enough, and he can answer for himself !"
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His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, who had already agreed that anyone who said he believed that Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue.
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That is why his parents said, "He is old enough; ask him!"
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A second time they called back the man who had been born blind, and said to him, "Promise before God that you will tell the truth! We know that this man who cured you is a sinner."
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"I do not know if he is a sinner or not," the man replied. "One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see."
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"What did he do to you?" they asked. "How did he cure you of your blindness?"
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"I have already told you," he answered, "and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe you, too, would like to be his disciples?"
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They insulted him and said, "You are that fellow's disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.
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We know that God spoke to Moses; as for that fellow, however, we do not even know where he comes from!"
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The man answered, "What a strange thing that is! You do not know where he comes from, but he cured me of my blindness!
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We know that God does not listen to sinners; he does listen to people who respect him and do what he wants them to do.
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Since the beginning of the world nobody has ever heard of anyone giving sight to a person born blind.
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Unless this man came from God, he would not be able to do a thing."
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They answered, "You were born and brought up in sin---and you are trying to teach us?" And they expelled him from the synagogue.
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When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
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The man answered, "Tell me who he is, sir, so that I can believe in him!"
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Jesus said to him, "You have already seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you now."
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"I believe, Lord!" the man said, and knelt down before Jesus.
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Jesus said, "I came to this world to judge, so that the blind should see and those who see should become blind."
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Some Pharisees who were there with him heard him say this and asked him, "Surely you don't mean that we are blind, too?"
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Jesus answered, "If you were blind, then you would not be guilty; but since you claim that you can see, this means that you are still guilty."
