1Yahweh’s word which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.
2I will utterly sweep away everything from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. 3I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. 4I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place—the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests, 5those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam, 6those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.
7Be silent at the presence of the Lord Yahweh, for the day of Yahweh is at hand. For Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests. 8It will happen in the day of Yahweh’s sacrifice that I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all those who are clothed with foreign clothing. 9In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.
10In that day, says Yahweh, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. 11Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were loaded with silver are cut off. 12It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.” 13Their wealth will become a plunder, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won’t inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, but won’t drink their wine.
14The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly. 15That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, 16a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high battlements. 17I will bring such distress on men that they will walk like blind men because they have sinned against Yahweh. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung. 18Neither 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.
The word of the Lord was given to Zephaniah, it was then up to Zephaniah to take that word out to the people and declare it. Imagine if he had stayed in his house and just expected people to come to him to hear God’s word. Based on that ‘you come to me’ idea not many people would have heard God’s word at all.
Thankfully Zephaniah went out among the people, declaring God’s word where ever he could. How do people around us hear about God? Are we just hoping that they will miraculously turn up in church one day? God has put a message of hope in each one of us, what is it that puts us off sharing it?
Maybe we don’t have the right words? St Augustine said ‘preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words.’ We attract people to Jesus by the integrity of our life and actions as much as by our words. We need to live out godly lives around others. Lives that reveal the mercy, hope and love of God.
We worry that it won’t work! Zephaniah wasn’t responsible for changing people, that was God’s job. He was only charged with telling the story of God. We need to remember that the Holy Spirit is not redundant and is still at work in peoples’ hearts and lives. Even if we cannot see it.