The priests mourn, The ministers of the LORD. The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of the LORD. Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth. It has stripped them bare and cast them away Their branches have become white. It has made my vine a waste And my fig tree splinters.
What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.Īwake, drunkards, and weep And wail, all you wine drinkers, On account of the sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth.įor a nation has invaded my land, Mighty and without number Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness. Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers' days? Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: Because we look forward to that same blessing, we can set fear aside and rejoice! Consider Jesus, he writes, who endured the cross “for the joy set before him”-that of sitting in fellowship with the Father (Heb. The writer of Hebrews sees Jesus as our example for joyful work while we “run with endurance” toward that goal (Heb.
17).Īnd what about us? We also wait for a world restored, where our fellowship with God will never end. They have enemies and feel abandoned, but God is “a victorious warrior” who “will rejoice over with shouts of joy” (v. Whatever they face, He will be with them. As the other prophets do, Zephaniah connects the call to joy with God’s faithful presence among His people. God encourages them to rejoice, even while they wait and endure a time of suffering. In verse 16 of chapter 3, however, Zephaniah uses the same phrase-“on that day”-to promise a time of renewal. “On that day,” the prophet said, God would judge their enemies, but His anger would also devastate the nation He loved (Zeph. Because of their sins-especially the sin of worshipping false idols-a day of great judgment lay ahead. Zephaniah had to deliver hard news to Judah.
0 kommentar(er)
