Zephaniah 3

So God says this: “I have destroyed many nations. I have destroyed their strong city walls and towers. I have destroyed the streets in those cities. No one walks on them anymore. Those cities are in ruins. All the people who used to live in them are now dead. 7 I said to myself, ‘The people of Jerusalem will certainly honor me and allow me to correct them. If they do that, I will not destroy their city. I will not do all the things that I said I would do to them.’ But even though the people of Jerusalem knew that I had punished other nations, they eagerly did even more wrong things.” \* 8 So this is what God declares: “You can confidently expect that an enemy army is going to conquer you and take away your possessions. I have decided to judge all of the people groups on the earth at the same time. I am going to punish them severely because I am very angry with them for being so wicked. Because I am very angry that people have worshiped false gods, I am going to destroy wicked people all over the world. \* 9 But after that, I will make the people groups do what is right and say what is right. That way all of them will worship me, God. I will be the only God whom any of them worship. 10 Enemy armies will take some of the people who worship me away to other countries. They will take them as far away as the place where the Nile River begins. But even from that far away, my people will come back to Jerusalem, bringing offerings to me. 11 When I restore you, you will no longer feel shame for disobeying me and doing many wrong things. {Many of} you boasted about how great you thought you were. But I will punish those people, and then you will always come humbly to worship me in my temple. \* 12 Then the people who live in Jerusalem will be poor, but they will be humble. They will depend on me, God, to help them. 13 Then the people of Israel who survive will not do wicked things. They will not tell lies or say things to deceive others. They will not be afraid that an enemy army will conquer them, so they will be able to eat and sleep peacefully.” \* 14 You Israelites who live in Judah should sing and shout loudly! You people who live in Jerusalem should celebrate because you are feeling very happy! 15 {You should celebrate because} God is not going to punish you any more. He is going to keep enemy armies far away from you! God himself, who is the true king of you Israelites, is going to live among you. You will never be afraid again that others will harm you. 16 At that time, prophets will say to the people who live in Jerusalem, “You people who live on Mount Zion should not be afraid! No, you should not become discouraged. \* 17 God your God lives among you! He is mighty, and he will protect you. He will be very happy about you. He will not say anything harsh to you, and you will know how much he loves you. He will sing loudly to rejoice about you.” 18 God says, “Enemy armies took some of you Judeans away from your homeland. Those people became very sad because they could no longer gather with others to worship me. They felt shame because of what had happened to them. But I am going to bring them back to Judah. \* 19 You can be certain that I will severely punish all those who oppressed you. When I do that, I will rescue those who had to make a long journey to go and live in other countries. They felt shame when they had to do that. But now I will make the people of those countries praise and honor them. 20 When I act to help you, I will gather you together and bring you back home to Israel. Then I will cause all the people groups in the world to praise and honor you greatly. You will be able to see that I am making you rich again.” This is what God has promised!