Zephaniah 1

1 The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, ¹in the days of ²Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

The Coming Judgment on Judah

2 ³"I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth," declares the LORD.

3 "I will sweep away ⁴man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and ⁵the fish of the sea, and ⁶the rubble^[a] with the wicked. I will ⁷cut off mankind from the face of the earth," declares the LORD.

4 "I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; ⁸and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,

5 ⁹those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, ¹⁰those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by ¹¹Milcom,

6 ¹²those who have turned back from following the LORD, ¹³who do not seek the LORD or inquire of him."

The Day of the Lord Is Near

7 ¹⁴Be silent before the Lord GOD! For ¹⁵the day of the LORD is near; ¹⁶the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and ¹⁷consecrated his guests.

8 And on the day of the LORD's sacrifice-- ¹⁸"I will punish the officials and the king's sons and ¹⁹all who array themselves in foreign attire.

9 On that day I will punish everyone ²⁰who leaps over the threshold, and those who fill their master's^[b] house with violence and fraud.

10 "On that day," declares the LORD, "a cry will be heard from ²¹the Fish Gate, ²²a wail from ²³the Second Quarter, a loud crash from the hills.

11 ²⁴Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar! For all the traders^[c] are no more; all who weigh out silver are cut off.

12 At that time ²⁵I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men ²⁶who are complacent,^{[d] 27}those who say in their hearts, 'The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.'

13 Their goods shall be ²⁸plundered, and their houses laid waste. ²⁹Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; ³⁰though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them."

14 ³¹The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; ³²the mighty man cries aloud there.

15 ³³A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ³⁴ruin and devastation, ³⁵a day of darkness and gloom, ³⁶a day of clouds and thick darkness,

16 ³⁷a day of trumpet blast and battle cry ³⁸against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.

17 ³⁹I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk ⁴⁰like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD; ⁴¹their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh ⁴²like dung.

18 ⁴³Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. ⁴⁴In the fire of his jealousy, ⁴⁵all the earth shall be consumed; ⁴⁶for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

Zephaniah 1 Commentary

Chapter 1

Zephaniah excites to repentance, foretells the destruction of the enemies of the Jews, and comforts the pious among them with promises of future blessings, the restoration of their nation, and the prosperity of the church in the latter days.

Threatenings against sinners. (1-6) More threatenings. (7-13) Distress from the approaching judgments. (14-18)

Verses 1-6 Ruin is coming, utter ruin; destruction from the Almighty. The servants of God all proclaim, There is no peace for the wicked. The expressions are figurative, speaking every where desolation; the land shall be left without inhabitants. The sinners to be consumed are, the professed idolaters, and those that worship Jehovah and idols, or swear to the Lord, and to Malcham. Those that think to divide their affections and worship between God and idols, will come short of acceptance with God; for what communion can there be between light and darkness? If Satan have half, he will have all; if the Lord have but half, he will have none. Neglect of God shows impiety and contempt. May none of us be among those who draw back unto perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

Verses 7-13 God's day is at hand; the punishment of presumptuous sinners is a sacrifice to the justice of God. The Jewish royal family shall be reckoned with for their pride and vanity; and those that leap on the threshold, invading their neighbours' rights, and seizing their possessions. The trading people and the rich merchants are called to account. Secure and careless people are reckoned with. They are secure and easy; they say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil; that is, they deny his dispensing rewards and punishments. But in the day of the Lord's judgment, it will clearly appear that those who perish, fall a sacrifice to Divine justice for breaking God's law, and because they have no interest by faith in the Redeemer's atoning sacrifice.

Verses 14-18 This warning of approaching destruction, is enough to make the sinners in Zion tremble; it refers to the great day of the Lord, the day in which he will show himself by taking vengeance on them. This day of the Lord is very near; it is a day of God's wrath, wrath to the utmost. It will be a day of trouble and distress to sinners. Let them not be laid asleep by the patience of God. What is a man profited if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? And what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Let us flee from the wrath to come, and choose the good part that shall never be taken from us; then we shall be prepared for every event; nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Cross References

• 1. Jeremiah 1:2
• 2. 2 Kings 22:1
• 3. Jeremiah 8:13; [ver. 18; 2 Kings 22:16, 17]
• 4. Hosea 4:3
• 5. Hosea 4:3
• 6. See Ezekiel 7:19
• 7. Ezekiel 14:17
• 8. See 2 Kings 23:4
• 9. Jeremiah 19:13
• 10. [1 Kings 18:21; 2 Kings 17:33, 41]
• 11. 1 Kings 11:5, 33
• 12. Jeremiah 2:13, 17; Jeremiah 15:6
• 13. [Jeremiah 5:24; Hebrews 11:6]
• 14. [Habakkuk 2:20]
• 15. [ver. 14]; See Joel 1:15
• 16. Isaiah 34:6; Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 39:17, 19
• 17. 1 Samuel 16:5
• 18. 2 Kings 24:12, 14; 2 Kings 25:7
• 19. [Matthew 22:11]
• 20. [1 Samuel 5:5]
• 21. See 2 Chronicles 33:14
• 22. Zechariah 11:3
• 23. 2 Kings 22:14
• 24. Zechariah 11:2; James 5:1
• 25. Amos 9:3
• 26. Jeremiah 48:11; [Amos 6:1]
• 27. Psalms 94:7; Ezekiel 8:12; Malachi 2:17; Malachi 3:14, 15
• 28. Isaiah 42:22
• 29. See Amos 5:11
• 30. See Micah 6:15
• 31. [ver. 7; Ezekiel 7:7, 12]
• 32. [Isaiah 33:7]
• 33. See Joel 1:15
• 34. Job 30:3
• 35. See Joel 2:2
• 36. See Joel 2:2
• 37. [Jeremiah 4:19]
• 38. [Isaiah 2:15]
• 39. Jeremiah 10:18
• 40. Deuteronomy 28:29; Isaiah 59:10
• 41. Psalms 79:3
• 42. [Psalms 83:10]
• 43. Ezekiel 7:19; [Proverbs 11:4]
• 44. [Zephaniah 3:8]
• 45. Ezekiel 36:5
• 46. [ver. 2, 3]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or stumbling blocks (that is, idols)
• [b]. Or their Lord's
• [c]. Or all the people of Canaan
• [d]. Hebrew are thickening on the dregs [of their wine]

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO ZEPHANIAH

This book in some Hebrew copies is called "Sepher Zephaniah", the Book of Zephaniah. Its title, in the Vulgate Latin version, is, the Prophecy of Zephaniah; and, in the Syriac version, the Prophecy of the Prophet Zephaniah; and so the Arabic version calls him a prophet; and he is the last of the minor prophets that prophesied before the Babylonish captivity. The time of his prophesying, as well as his, parentage, are expressed Zep 1:1, and therefore need not be inquired into; only the sad mistake of Hobbes {a} may be observed, who makes him to be the most ancient of the prophets, and to be contemporary with Amaziah and Uzziah, kings of Judah, when he is expressly said to prophesy in the days of Josiah. Pseudo-Epiphanius {b} calls him a prophet of Sarabatha, of a mountain of that name, and says he was of the tribe of Simeon; and in this Isidore {c} agrees with him; and both affirm that he died and was buried in his own native place; but the author of the Cippi Hebraici {d} says he was buried at Geba, in Mount Lebanon, in the midst of a cave shut up, where his school continues; and from which place the clouds never depart, and where also are flowing fountains. His name, according to Jerom, signifies either "the Lord's watch tower", or "watchman"; or else "the secret of the Lord"; or, "his hidden one"; deriving his name, either from hpu, which signifies to "look out", as a watchman from his tower; or from Npu, "to hide"; which latter derivation is best; and some interpret it "a revealer of the secrets", or "hidden things, of the Lord"; and take it to be much the same with Zaphnathpaaneah, the name given to Joseph by Pharaoh, Ge 41:45, and is of the same signification: but Hillerus {e} interprets the name of Zephaniah, "the Lord hid himself"; which agrees with the times in which he lived. That this prophecy was wrote by himself, there need be no doubt of; nor of the authenticity of it, being always received by the Jewish synagogue as authentic; and as it appears to be from its style and manner of composition; from the subject matter of it agreeing with other parts of Scripture, especially with Jeremiah and Ezekiel; and from the accomplishment of various prophecies in it. There are indeed some spurious things which have been ascribed to him, as the "analepsis" or assumption of Zephaniah the prophet, and the prophecy of Zephaniah, consisting of six hundred verses; but these are apocryphal, and have no likeness to this prophecy; in which he foretells the destruction of the Jews by the Chaldeans for their sins, which he inveighs against, and calls them to repentance for them, as also the ruin of many other nations, all which came to pass; as well as he prophesies of the calling of the Gentiles, and the conversion of the Jews, and of the comfortable state of the church in Gospel times, and especially in the latter day.

{a} Leviathan, c. 33. {b} De Prophet. Vita & Interitu, c. 19. {c} De Vita & Morte Sanct. c. 48. {d} P. 50. Ed. Hottinger. {e} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 471, 952.

\\INTRODUCTION TO ZEPHANIAH 1\\

After the title of the book, Zep 1:1, follows the Lord's threatening of the land of Judea with an utter consumption of it, and of all creatures in it, for the sins of its inhabitants, especially their idolatry and apostasy, Zep 1:2-6, and this is represented under the notion of a sacrifice, to which guests are bid; and which even princes, and those of the blood royal, should not escape, nor ministers of state, or such who filled their masters' houses with violence, Zep 1:7-9. Some particular places are mentioned, where there should be a great noise of crying and howling, and especially Jerusalem, which should be diligently searched, and its goods become a booty, and its houses desolate, Zep 1:10-13. This destruction is spoken of as near at hand, and is described as very terrible and distressing, Zep 1:14-17 and as inevitable; nothing would be able to deliver from it, Zep 1:18.