Zephaniah 2:3

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Seek the LORD’s favor, all you humble people of the land who have obeyed his commands! Strive to do what is right! Strive to be humble! Maybe you will be protected on the day of the LORD’s angry judgment.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Amos 5:14-15 : 14 Seek good and not evil so you can live! Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, just might be with you, as you claim he is. 15 Hate what is wrong, love what is right! Promote justice at the city gate! Maybe the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, will have mercy on those who are left from Joseph.
  • Ps 57:1 : 1 For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; a prayer of David, written when he fled from Saul into the cave. Have mercy on me, O God! Have mercy on me! For in you I have taken shelter. In the shadow of your wings I take shelter until trouble passes.
  • Ps 76:9 : 9 when God arose to execute judgment, and to deliver all the oppressed of the earth.(Selah)
  • Ps 105:4 : 4 Seek the LORD and the strength he gives! Seek his presence continually!
  • Matt 5:5 : 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
  • Ps 22:26 : 26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled! Let those who seek his help praise the LORD! May you live forever!
  • Isa 26:20-21 : 20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms! Close your doors behind you! Hide for a little while, until his angry judgment is over! 21 For look, the LORD is coming out of the place where he lives, to punish the sin of those who live on the earth. The earth will display the blood shed on it; it will no longer cover up its slain.
  • 1 Pet 3:4 : 4 but the inner person of the heart, the lasting beauty of a gentle and tranquil spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.
  • 2 Pet 3:18 : 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the honor both now and on that eternal day.
  • Isa 55:6-7 : 6 Seek the LORD while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby! 7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the LORD, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.
  • Isa 61:1 : 1 The Lord Will Rejuvenate His People The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, because the LORD has chosen me. He has commissioned me to encourage the poor, to help the brokenhearted, to decree the release of captives, and the freeing of prisoners,
  • Jer 3:13-14 : 13 However, you must confess that you have done wrong, and that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You must confess that you have given yourself to foreign gods under every green tree, and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the LORD. 14 “Come back to me, my wayward sons,” says the LORD,“for I am your true master. If you do, I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.
  • Jer 4:1-2 : 1 “If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the LORD,“if you want to come back to me, you must get those disgusting idols out of my sight and must no longer go astray. 2 You must be truthful, honest and upright when you take an oath saying,‘As surely as the LORD lives!’ If you do, the nations will pray to be as blessed by him as you are and will make him the object of their boasting.”
  • Jer 22:15-16 : 15 Does it make you any more of a king that you outstrip everyone else in building with cedar? Just think about your father. He was content that he had food and drink. He did what was just and right. So things went well with him. 16 He upheld the cause of the poor and needy. So things went well for Judah.’ The LORD says,‘That is a good example of what it means to know me.’
  • Jer 29:12-13 : 12 When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers. 13 When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul,
  • Jer 39:18 : 18 I will certainly save you. You will not fall victim to violence. You will escape with your life because you trust in me. I, the LORD, affirm it!”’”
  • Jer 45:5 : 5 Are you looking for great things for yourself? Do not look for such things. For I, the LORD, affirm that I am about to bring disaster on all humanity. But I will allow you to escape with your life wherever you go.”’”
  • Hos 7:10 : 10 The arrogance of Israel testifies against him, yet they refuse to return to the LORD their God! In spite of all this they refuse to seek him!
  • Hos 10:12 : 12 Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap unfailing love. Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves, for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers deliverance on you.
  • Joel 2:13-14 : 13 Tear your hearts, not just your garments!” Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love– often relenting from calamitous punishment. 14 Who knows? Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, and leave blessing in his wake– a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the LORD your God!
  • Amos 5:4-6 : 4 The LORD says this to the family of Israel:“Seek me so you can live! 5 Do not seek Bethel! Do not visit Gilgal! Do not journey down to Beer Sheba! For the people of Gilgal will certainly be carried into exile; and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.” 6 Seek the LORD so you can live! Otherwise he will break out like fire against Joseph’s family; the fire will consume and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel.
  • Ps 25:8-9 : 8 The LORD is both kind and fair; that is why he teaches sinners the right way to live. 9 May he show the humble what is right! May he teach the humble his way!
  • Ps 31:20 : 20 You hide them with you, where they are safe from the attacks of men; you conceal them in a shelter, where they are safe from slanderous attacks.
  • Ps 32:6-7 : 6 For this reason every one of your faithful followers should pray to you while there is a window of opportunity. Certainly when the surging water rises, it will not reach them. 7 You are my hiding place; you protect me from distress. You surround me with shouts of joy from those celebrating deliverance.(Selah)
  • Gen 7:15-16 : 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life came into the ark to Noah. 16 Those that entered were male and female, just as God commanded him. Then the LORD shut him in.
  • Exod 12:27 : 27 then you will say,‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck Egypt and delivered our households.’” The people bowed down low to the ground,
  • 2 Sam 12:22 : 22 He replied,“While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought,‘Perhaps the LORD will show pity and the child will live.
  • 2 Chr 34:27-28 : 27 ‘You displayed a sensitive spirit and humbled yourself before God when you heard his words concerning this place and its residents. You humbled yourself before me, tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the LORD. 28 ‘Therefore I will allow you to die and be buried in peace. You will not have to witness all the disaster I will bring on this place and its residents.’”’” Then they reported back to the king.
  • Matt 7:7-8 : 7 Ask, Seek, Knock“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
  • Phil 3:13-14 : 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, 14 with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
  • Col 3:2-4 : 2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, 3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ(who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.
  • 1 Thess 4:1 : 1 A Life Pleasing to God Finally then, brothers and sisters, we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how you must live and please God(as you are in fact living) that you do so more and more.
  • 1 Thess 4:10 : 10 And indeed you are practicing it toward all the brothers and sisters in all of Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,
  • Jas 1:21-22 : 21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.
  • 1 Pet 1:22 : 22 You have purified your souls by obeying the truth in order to show sincere mutual love. So love one another earnestly from a pure heart.
  • Ps 149:4 : 4 For the LORD takes delight in his people; he exalts the oppressed by delivering them.
  • Prov 18:10 : 10 The name of the LORD is like a strong tower; the righteous person runs to it and is set safely on high.
  • Isa 11:4 : 4 He will treat the poor fairly, and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and order the wicked to be executed.
  • Ps 91:1 : 1 As for you, the one who lives in the shelter of the Most High, and resides in the protective shadow of the Sovereign One–
  • Jonah 3:9 : 9 Who knows? Perhaps God might be willing to change his mind and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we might not die.”
  • Zech 8:19 : 19 “The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says,‘The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become joyful and happy, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah, so love truth and peace.’

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Zeph 2:1-2
    2 verses
    82%

    1The Prophet Warns the People Bunch yourselves together like straw, you undesirable nation,

    2before God’s decree becomes reality and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, before the LORD’s raging anger overtakes you– before the day of the LORD’s angry judgment overtakes you!

  • Isa 2:10-11
    2 verses
    75%

    10Go up into the rocky cliffs, hide in the ground. Get away from the dreadful judgment of the LORD, from his royal splendor!

    11Proud men will be brought low, arrogant men will be humiliated; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

  • Isa 55:6
    73%

    6Seek the LORD while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby!

  • Amos 5:6-7
    2 verses
    72%

    6Seek the LORD so you can live! Otherwise he will break out like fire against Joseph’s family; the fire will consume and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel.

    7The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground.

  • Amos 5:14
    72%

    14Seek good and not evil so you can live! Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, just might be with you, as you claim he is.

  • Zeph 3:8
    72%

    8Therefore you must wait patiently for me,” says the LORD,“for the day when I attack and take plunder. I have decided to gather nations together and assemble kingdoms, so I can pour out my fury on them– all my raging anger. For the whole earth will be consumed by my fiery anger.

  • Isa 2:21
    71%

    21so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs and the openings under the rocky overhangs, trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the LORD and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth.

  • Hos 10:12
    71%

    12Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap unfailing love. Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves, for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers deliverance on you.

  • Isa 10:3
    71%

    3What will you do on judgment day, when destruction arrives from a distant place? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

  • Joel 2:1-2
    2 verses
    71%

    1The Locusts’ Devastation Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear, for the day of the LORD is about to come. Indeed, it is near!

    2It will be a day of dreadful darkness, a day of foreboding storm clouds, like blackness spread over the mountains. It is a huge and powerful army– there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come!

  • Isa 29:19
    71%

    19The downtrodden will again rejoice in the LORD; the poor among humankind will take delight in the Holy One of Israel.

  • Zeph 1:14-15
    2 verses
    71%

    14The LORD’s great day of judgment is almost here; it is approaching very rapidly! There will be a bitter sound on the LORD’s day of judgment; at that time warriors will cry out in battle.

    15That day will be a day of God’s anger, a day of distress and hardship, a day of devastation and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and dark skies,

  • Isa 26:20
    71%

    20Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms! Close your doors behind you! Hide for a little while, until his angry judgment is over!

  • Ps 25:9
    71%

    9May he show the humble what is right! May he teach the humble his way!

  • Ps 69:32
    71%

    32The oppressed look on– let them rejoice! You who seek God, may you be encouraged!

  • Mal 4:1
    71%

    1(3:19)“For indeed the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.“It will not leave them even a root or branch.

  • Isa 1:17
    71%

    17Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! Take up the cause of the orphan! Defend the rights of the widow!

  • Jer 4:8
    70%

    8So put on sackcloth! Mourn and wail, saying,‘The fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us!’”

  • Ps 37:11
    70%

    11But the oppressed will possess the land and enjoy great prosperity.

  • Joel 1:14-15
    2 verses
    70%

    14Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.

    15How awful that day will be! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer.

  • Amos 5:18
    70%

    18The Lord Demands Justice Woe to those who wish for the day of the LORD! Why do you want the LORD’s day of judgment to come? It will bring darkness, not light.

  • Isa 51:7
    70%

    7Listen to me, you who know what is right, you people who are aware of my law! Don’t be afraid of the insults of men; don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

  • Isa 13:9
    70%

    9Look, the LORD’s day of judgment is coming; it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, destroying the earth and annihilating its sinners.

  • Joel 2:12
    70%

    12An Appeal for Repentance“Yet even now,” the LORD says,“return to me with all your heart– with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

  • Zeph 1:6-7
    2 verses
    70%

    6and those who turn their backs on the LORD and do not want the LORD’s help or guidance.”

    7Be silent before the Sovereign LORD, for the LORD’s day of judgment is almost here. The LORD has prepared a sacrificial meal; he has ritually purified his guests.

  • Amos 5:4
    70%

    4The LORD says this to the family of Israel:“Seek me so you can live!

  • Joel 2:17
    70%

    17Let the priests, those who serve the LORD, weep from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. Let them say,“Have pity, O LORD, on your people; please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked, to become a proverb among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples,“Where is their God?”

  • 1 Chr 16:11
    70%

    11Seek the LORD and the strength he gives! Seek his presence continually!

  • Jer 5:1
    69%

    1Judah is Justly Deserving of Coming Judgment The LORD said,“Go up and down through the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and see for yourselves. Search through its public squares. See if any of you can find a single person who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. If you can, then I will not punish this city.

  • Ps 76:9
    69%

    9when God arose to execute judgment, and to deliver all the oppressed of the earth.(Selah)

  • Isa 30:18
    69%

    18The Lord Will Not Abandon His People For this reason the LORD is ready to show you mercy; he sits on his throne, ready to have compassion on you. Indeed, the LORD is a just God; all who wait for him in faith will be blessed.

  • Amos 2:7
    69%

    7They trample on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; they push the destitute away. A man and his father go to the same girl; in this way they show disrespect for my moral purity.

  • Joel 2:10
    69%

    10The earth quakes before them; the sky reverberates. The sun and the moon grow dark; the stars refuse to shine.

  • Zeph 2:4
    69%

    4Judgment on Surrounding Nations Indeed, Gaza will be deserted and Ashkelon will become a heap of ruins. Invaders will drive away the people of Ashdod by noon, and Ekron will be overthrown.

  • Mal 2:17
    69%

    17Resistance to the Lord through Self-deceit You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say,“How have we wearied him?” Because you say,“Everyone who does evil is good in the LORD’s opinion, and he delights in them,” or“Where is the God of justice?”

  • Isa 5:7
    69%

    7Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got– disobedience! He waited for fairness, but look what he got– cries for help!

  • Isa 3:15
    69%

    15Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?” The Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies has spoken.

  • Isa 51:1
    69%

    1There is Hope for the Future“Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, who seek the LORD! Look at the rock from which you were chiseled, at the quarry from which you were dug!

  • Hos 12:6
    69%

    6But you must return to your God, by maintaining love and justice, and by waiting for your God to return to you.

  • Zeph 1:12
    69%

    12At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps. I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, those who think to themselves,‘The LORD neither rewards nor punishes.’

  • Zech 14:5
    69%

    5Then you will escape through my mountain valley, for the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come with all his holy ones with him.

  • Ps 22:26
    68%

    26Let the oppressed eat and be filled! Let those who seek his help praise the LORD! May you live forever!

  • Zeph 1:18
    68%

    18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s angry judgment. The whole earth will be consumed by his fiery wrath. Indeed, he will bring terrifying destruction on all who live on the earth.”