Sophonie 1:17

17 Je mettrai les hommes dans la détresse, et ils marcheront comme des aveugles, parce qu'ils ont péché contre l'Éternel. Leur sang sera répandu comme de la poussière, et leur chair comme de l'ordure.

Sophonie 1:17 Meaning and Commentary

Zephaniah 1:17

And I will bring distress upon men
Not upon men in general, but particularly on the men of Judea, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; and especially those that were in the fenced cities and high towers; and who might think themselves safe and secure; but, being besieged, should be distressed with famine and pestilence, and with the enemy; and more especially when stormed, and a breach made, and the enemy just entering: that they shall walk like blind men;
not knowing which way to go, where to turn themselves, what methods to take, or course to steer, no more than a blind man. The phrase is expressive of their being at their wits' ends, void of all thought and consultation: because they have sinned against the Lord;
and therefore he gives them up, not only into the hand of the enemy, but unto an infatuation of spirit, and a judicial blindness of mind: and their blood shall be poured out as dust;
in great quantities, like that, without any regard to it, without showing any mercy, and as if it was of no more value than the dust of the earth. The Targum is,

``their blood shall be poured out into the dust;''

or on it, and be drunk up by it: and their flesh as the dung;
or their carcasses, as the same paraphrase; that is, their dead bodies shall lie unburied, and rot, and putrefy, and shall be cast upon fields like dung, to fatten them. The word for "flesh", in the Hebrew language, signifies bread or food; because dead bodies are food for worms; but in the Arabic language, as Aben Ezra and Jarchi observe, it signifies "flesh".

Sophonie 1:17 In-Context

15 C'est un jour de colère que ce jour-là; un jour de détresse et d'angoisse, un jour de ruine et de désolation, un jour de ténèbres et d'obscurité, un jour de nuées et de brouillards,

16 Un jour de trompettes et d'alarmes contre les villes fortes et contre les hautes tours.

17 Je mettrai les hommes dans la détresse, et ils marcheront comme des aveugles, parce qu'ils ont péché contre l'Éternel. Leur sang sera répandu comme de la poussière, et leur chair comme de l'ordure.

18 Ni leur argent, ni leur or ne pourront les délivrer au jour de la colère de l'Éternel; et par le feu de sa jalousie tout le pays sera consumé; car c'est d'une entière destruction, c'est d'une ruine soudaine qu'il frappera tous les habitants de la terre.