THE

GOLDEN AGE OF HEBREW LITERATURE

SECOND PERIOD

FROM ZEPHANIAH'S WARNING OF A WORLD-WIDE DOOM TO THE PROPHECY OF ISRAEL'S WORLD-WIDE MISSION

THE POEM OF ZEPHANIAH, "THE DAY OF YAHWEH"
THE BOOK OF THE LAW (DEUTERONOMY) BY D.

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

THE PRAISE OF WISDOM

THE POEMS OF NAHUM ON THE FALL OF NINEVEH

THE POEM OF HABAKKUK

THE TWO "POEMS OF THE SERVANT"

THE POEM OF THE PROPHET ZEPHANIAH

THE DAY OF YAHWEH

PART I. ITS IMMINENT ADVENT

(Ch. 1, 7, 2-6, 8-18)1

Hold thy peace at the presence of Yahweh,
For the Day of Yehweh is at hand,

For Yahweh hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bidden His guests.

I will utterly consume everything from off the land, saith Yahweh.
I will take away the fowls of heaven and the fishes of the sea.
The stumbling-blocks with the wicked, and mankind from the earth.

I will stretch out My hand upon Judah
And upon all the dwellers in Jerusalem.

From this place I will cut off the remnant of Baal,

The very name of its priests,

And them who worship on the house-tops the host of heaven,
And the worshipers of Yahweh who also swear by Malcham;
Them also who are apostate to Yahweh, who have not sought Him,
Nor inquired of Yahweh.

And it shall come to pass in the day of Yahweh's sacrifice,
That I will punish the princes and the king's children,

And all those that clothe themselves in foreign apparel.
I will also punish those who leap over the threshold,
Who fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.

Hark! a cry from the Fishgate and a wailing from the New Quarter
And a great crashing from the hills,
And a wailing from the dwellers in Maktesh.

For all the merchants are cut down,

All they that have silver and gold are cut off.
And I will search Jerusalem with lamps,

And punish those settled upon their lees;
That say in their hearts: Yahweh will do us no good;
Neither will He do evil.

Therefore their wealth shall become a prey, and their house,
A desolation.

For the Day of Yahweh is near; near, and hasteneth greatly;
The outcry of the Day of Yahweh wherein the strong man
Shall cry bitterly.

That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress;

A day of destruction and desolation,

A day of darkness and gloom;

A day of clouds and thick darkness,

A day of the trumpet and the alarum

1 (Superscription by P. Ch. i, 1.) "The word of Yahweh 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 Israel."

Against the fortified cities and against the high battlements.
And I will bring distress upon men
That they shall walk as the blind;

And their blood shall be poured out as dust,
And their flesh shall be as dung.

Neither their silver nor their gold shall serve to deliver them
In the day of the wrath of Yahweh;

But the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy
For He shall make a speedy riddance of all those

That dwell in the land.

PART II. THE RUIN SHALL BE WORLD-WIDE

(Ch. ii, 1-6, 7b, 6-10, 12-15)

Gather yourselves together!

Yea, gather together, O shameless nations!

Before the decree is passed that ye shall be as drifting chaff,
Before the fierce wrath of Yahweh shall come upon you!
Seek ye Yahweh, all ye meek upon earth, ye who obey His Laws!
Seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be ye shall be hid
In the day of the wrath of Yahweh.

For Gaza shall be forsaken, Askelon, a desolation;

They shall drive out Ashdod at noon, Ekron shall be uprooted.
Woe to the dwellers by the sea, the nation of the Cherethites!
The word of Yahweh is against you, O Canaan, land of Philistines!
I will so destroy thee that there shall be no inhabitant.

And the sea-coast shall be pastures, meadows for shepherds,

And folds for flocks.

In the palace of Askelon shall they lie down in the evening,
By the sea shall they feed.

I have heard the taunt of Moab, the reviling of the children of Ammon. Wherewith they have taunted My people,

Magnifying themselves against them.

Therefore as I live saith Yahweh, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon

Like Gomorrah;

Even salt-pits, the breeding-place of nettles, a desolation forever.
The residue of My people shall spoil them,
And the remnant of it shall possess them.

Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by My sword;
And He will stretch out His hand against the north,
And destroy Assyria,

And will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry as the desert.
Beasts of every kind shall lie down in the midst of her;
The pelican and the bittern shall lodge in her lintels.
Their cries shall be heard in her ruined windows;
Desolation shall be on her thresholds,

And the cedar-work thereof shall lie bare.

This is the joyous city that dwelt without care!
That said in her heart: There is none like unto me!
How is she become a desolation, a den for jackals!
Every passer-by shall hiss at her,
And wag his head.

PART III. A GLEAM OF HOPE FOR JUDAH

(Ch. iii, 1-7)

Woe to her that is filthy and polluted! Woe to the oppressing city!
She heeded not the warning voice, she accepted no reproof;

She trusted not in Yahweh; she drew not near to her God.
Her rulers in her midst are roaring lions; her judges, ravening wolves.

They leave not a bone for the morrow.
Her prophets are dissolute and faithless men,
Her priests profane what is holy.

And do violence to the Law.

Yet Yahweh, the Just One, is in her midst,
He will not do unrighteousness.

Morning by morning He maketh clear His law,
He faileth not to do right.

He saith: I have cut off the nations; destroyed their walls.
I have laid waste their streets and none pass over them.
Desolate are their cities, without a man, not an inhabitant.

Surely thou, (Jerusalem) wilt fear Me! Thou wilt accept rebuke!
So that her dwelling shall not be destroyed,
After all I have visited upon her!

But despite all this, she hath made all her doings corrupt!

PART IV. A PSALM OF REJOICING1

(Ch. iii, 14-20)

Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel!

Be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
Yahweh hath taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thy foe.
The king of Israel, even Yahweh, is in the midst of thee.

Thou shalt not fear evil any more.

O Zion, let not thy hands be slack; thy God, Yahweh, is in thy midst, A Mighty One, who will save.

He will rejoice over thee with joy, He will love thee in silence,

He will joy over thee with singing.

I will gather them that are far from the solemn assembly,

Who are of thee,-who grieved for the burden of reproach upon it. Behold, at that time, I will undo all that afflicted thee. And I will succour her that halteth, and rescue her that was outcast. And I will cause them to receive praise and a name, Whose shame hath been in all the earth.

1 Probably written by Zephaniah after the Great Reformation of Josiah, 621 B.C. Vv, 8-13 are evidently post-exilic and therefore omitted.