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Title: The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 41: Sophonias

Release date: June 1, 2005 [eBook #8341]
                Most recently updated: December 26, 2020

Language: English



*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIBLE, DOUAY-RHEIMS, BOOK 41: SOPHONIAS ***




This eBook was produced by David Widger
from etext #1581 prepared by Dennis McCarthy, Atlanta, Georgia
and Tad Book, student, Pontifical North American College, Rome.





THE HOLY BIBLE




Translated from the Latin Vulgate


Diligently Compared with the Hebrew, Greek,
and Other Editions in Divers Languages


THE OLD TESTAMENT
First Published by the English College at Douay
A.D. 1609 & 1610

and

THE NEW TESTAMENT
First Published by the English College at Rheims
A.D. 1582


With Annotations


The Whole Revised and Diligently Compared with
the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner
A.D. 1749-1752





THE PROPHECY OF SOPHONIAS

SOPHONIAS, whose name, saith St. Jerome, signifies The Watchman of the
Lord, or The hidden of the Lord, prophesied in the beginning of the
reign of Josias. He was a native of Sarabatha, and of the tribe of
Simeon, according to the more general opinion. He prophesied the
punishments of the Jews, for their idolatry and other crimes; also the
punishments that were to come on divers nations; the coming of Christ,
the conversion of the Gentiles, the blindness of the Jews, and their
conversion towards the end of the world.


Sophonias Chapter 1

For divers enormous sins, the kingdom of Juda is threatened with severe
judgment.

1:1. The word of the Lord that came to Sophonias the son of Chusi, the
son of Godolias, the son of Amarias, the son of Ezechias, in the days of
Josias, the son of Amon king of Juda.

1:2. Gathering, I will gather together all things from off the face of
the land, saith the Lord:

Gathering, I will gather, etc... That is, I will assuredly take away,
and wholly consume, either by captivity, or death, both men and beasts
out of this land.

1:3. I will gather man, and beast, I will gather the birds of the air,
and the fishes of the sea: and the ungodly shall meet with ruin: and I
will destroy men from off the face of the land, saith the Lord.

1:4. And I will stretch out my hand upon Juda, and upon all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem: and I will destroy out of this place the
remnant of Baal, and the names of the wardens of the temples with the
priests:

The wardens, etc... Viz., of the temples of the idols. AEdituos, in
Hebrew, the Chemarims, that is, such as kindle the fires, or burn
incense.

1:5. And them that worship the host of heaven upon the tops of houses,
and them that adore, and swear by the Lord, and swear by Melchom.

Melchom... The idol of the Ammonites.

1:6. And them that turn away from following after the Lord, and that
have not sought the Lord, nor searched after him.

1:7. Be silent before the face of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord
is near, for the Lord hath prepared a victim, he hath sanctified his
guests.

1:8. And it shall come to pass in the day of the victim of the Lord,
that I will visit upon the princes, and upon the king's sons, and upon
all such as are clothed with strange apparel:

1:9. And I will visit in that day upon every one that entereth
arrogantly over the threshold: them that fill the house of the Lord
their God with iniquity and deceit.

1:10. And there shall be in that day, saith the Lord, the noise of a cry
from the fish gate, and a howling from the Second, and a great
destruction from the hills.

The Second... A part of the city so called.

1:11. Howl, ye inhabitants of the Morter. All the people of Chanaan is
hush, all are cut off that were wrapped up in silver.

The Morter... Maktesh. A valley in or near Jerusalem. Ibid. The people
of Chanaan... So he calls the Jews, from their following the wicked ways
of the Chanaanites.

1:12. And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search
Jerusalem with lamps, and will visit upon the men that are settled on
their lees: that say in their hearts: The Lord will not do good, nor
will he do evil.

Settled on their lees... That is, the wealthy, and such as live at their
ease, resting upon their riches, like wine upon the lees.

1:13. And their strength shall become a booty, and their houses as a
desert: and they shall build houses, and shall not dwell in them: and
they shall plant vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them.

1:14. The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and exceeding swift:
the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man shall there
meet with tribulation.

1:15. That day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a
day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of
clouds and whirlwinds,

1:16. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and
against the high bulwarks.

1:17. And I will distress men, and they shall walk like blind men,
because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be
poured out as earth, and their bodies as dung.

1:18. Neither shall their silver and their gold be able to deliver them
in the day of the wrath of the Lord: all the land shall be devoured by
the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy destruction of
all them that dwell in the land.

Sophonias Chapter 2

An exhortation to repentance. The judgment of the Philistines, of the
Moabites, and the Ammonites; of the Ethiopians and the Assyrians.

2:1. Assemble yourselves together, be gathered together, O nation not
worthy to be loved:

2:2. Before the decree bring forth the day as dust passing away, before
the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's
indignation come upon you.

2:3. Seek the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, you that have wrought his
judgment: seek the just, seek the meek: if by any means you may be hid
in the day of the Lord's indignation.

2:4. For Gaza shall be destroyed, and Ascalon shall be a desert, they
shall cast out Azotus at noonday, and Accaron shall be rooted up.

2:5. Woe to you that inhabit the sea coast, O nation of reprobates: the
word of the Lord upon you, O Chanaan, the land of the Philistines, and I
will destroy thee, so that there shall not be an inhabitant.

2:6. And the sea coast shall be the resting place of shepherds, and
folds for cattle:

2:7. And it shall be the portion of him that shall remain of the house
of Juda, there they shall feed: in the houses of Ascalon they shall rest
in the evening: because the Lord their God will visit them, and bring
back their captivity.

2:8. I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the blasphemies of the
children of Ammon, with which they reproached my people, and have
magnified themselves upon their borders.

2:9. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel,
Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrha, the
dryness of thorns, and heaps of salt, and a desert even for ever: the
remnant of my people shall make a spoil of them, and the residue of my
nation shall possess them.

2:10. This shall befall them for their pride: because they have
blasphemed, and have been magnified against the people of the Lord of
hosts.

2:11. The Lord shall be terrible upon them, and shall consume all the
gods of the earth: and they shall adore him every man from his own
place, all the islands of the Gentiles.

2:12. You Ethiopians, also shall be slain with my sword.

2:13. And he will stretch out his hand upon the north, and will destroy
Assyria: and he will make the beautiful city a wilderness, and as a
place not passable, and as a desert.

The beautiful city, viz... Ninive, which was destroyed soon after this,
viz., in the sixteenth year of the reign of Josias.

2:14. And flocks shall lie down in the midst thereof, all the beasts of
the nations: and the bittern and the urchin shall lodge in the threshold
thereof: the voice of the singing bird in the window, the raven on the
upper post, for I will consume her strength.

2:15. This is the glorious city that dwelt in security: that said in her
heart: I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desert, a
place for beasts to lie down in? every one that passeth by her shall
hiss, and wag his hand.

Sophonias Chapter 3

A woe to Jerusalem for her sins. A prophecy of the conversion of the
Gentiles, and of the poor of Israel: God shall be with them.  The Jews
shall be converted at last.

3:1. Woe to the provoking and redeemed city, the dove.

3:2. She hath not hearkened to the voice, neither hath she received
discipline: she hath not trusted in the Lord, she drew not near to her
God.

3:3. Her princes are in the midst of her as roaring lions: her judges
are evening wolves, they left nothing for the morning.

3:4. Her prophets are senseless, men without faith: her priests have
polluted the sanctuary, they have acted unjustly against the law.

3:5. The just Lord is in the midst thereof, he will not do iniquity: in
the morning, in the morning he will bring his judgment to light, and it
shall not be hid: but the wicked man hath not known shame.

3:6. I have destroyed the nations, and their towers are beaten down: I
have made their ways desert, so that there is none that passeth by:
their cities are desolate, there is not a man remaining, nor any
inhabitant.

3:7. I said: Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive correction: and
her dwelling shall not perish, for all things wherein I have visited
her: but they rose early, and corrupted all their thoughts.

3:8. Wherefore expect me, saith the Lord, in the day of my resurrection
that is to come, for my judgment is to assemble the Gentiles, and to
gather the kingdoms: and to pour upon them my indignation, all my fierce
anger: for with the fire of my jealousy shall all the earth be devoured.


3:9. Because then I will restore to the people a chosen lip, that all
may call upon the name of the Lord, and may serve him with one shoulder.


3:10. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, shall my suppliants, the
children of my dispersed people, bring me an offering.

3:11. In that day thou shalt not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein
thou hast transgressed against me for then I will take away out of the
midst of thee thy proud boasters, and thou shalt no more be lifted up
because of my holy mountain.

3:12. And I will leave in the midst of thee a poor and needy people: and
they shall hope in the name of the Lord.

3:13. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies, nor
shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed,
and shall lie down, and there shall be none to make them afraid.

3:14. Give praise, O daughter of Sion: shout, O Israel: be glad, and
rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

3:15. The Lord hath taken away thy judgment, he hath turned away thy
enemies: the king of Israel, the Lord, is in the midst of thee, thou
shalt fear evil no more.

3:16. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not: to Sion: Let
not thy hands be weakened.

3:17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, he will save: he
will rejoice over thee with gladness, he will be silent in his love, he
will be joyful over thee in praise.

3:18. The triflers that were departed from the law, I will gather
together, because they were of thee: that thou mayest no more suffer
reproach for them.

3:19. Behold I will cut off all that have afflicted thee at that time:
and I will save her that halteth, and will gather her that was cast out:
and I will get them praise, and a name, in all the land where they had
been put to confusion.

3:20. At that time, when I will bring you: and at the time that I will
gather you: for I will give you a name, and praise among all the people
of the earth, when I shall have brought back your captivity before your
eyes, saith the Lord.







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