Zephaniah 3:3

3 Princes thereof in middle thereof were as lions roaring; judges thereof were wolves, in the eventide they left not into morrow. (Its princes in its midst were like roaring lions; its judges were like wolves, and by the evening they had left nothing for the next morning.)

Zephaniah 3:3 Meaning and Commentary

Zephaniah 3:3

Her princes within her [are] roaring lions
Or, "as roaring lions"; there being a defect of the note of similitude; which is supplied by the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions. This is to be understood, not of the princes of the blood; but of civil magistrates in common; the members of the grand sanhedrim; the princes of the Jewish world, that crucified the Lord of glory; and who gaped upon him with their mouths like ravening and roaring lions, as is foretold they should, ( Psalms 22:12 Psalms 22:13 ) and who breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of Christ; and by their menaces endeavoured to frighten and deter them from preaching in his name, and from a profession of him; see ( 1 Corinthians 2:8 ) ( Acts 4:5 Acts 4:6 Acts 4:18 ) ( Acts 5:27 Acts 5:28 ) : her judges [are] evening wolves;
or, like them, cruel, voracious, never satisfied; especially are very ravenous in the evening, having had no food all day; not daring to go abroad in the daytime to seek their prey; see ( Jeremiah 5:6 ) . The Septuagint and Arabic versions read "wolves of Arabia"; but wrongly; (See Gill on Habakkuk 1:8) such rapacious covetous judges were there in Christ's time; who gives us an instance in one, by which we may judge of the rest, who feared not God, nor regarded men, ( Luke 18:2 ) such as these were hungry and greedy after gifts and bribes to pervert judgment, and to devour the poor, the widow, and the fatherless, on whom they had no mercy: they gnaw not the bones till the morrow;
or rather, "in the morning" {z}; that is, either they leave not the bones till the morning, as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; they are so hungry, that they eat up bones and all at once, and reserve nothing for the next day; which expresses both the greediness of these judges, and the total consumption of the estates of men made by them: or else the sense is, that not having gnawn any bones in the morning, or eaten anything that day, hence they are so greedy in the evening; and so this last clause gives a reason why evening wolves are so voracious; for which such cruel judges are compared to them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (rqbl) "in mane", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "matutino", Cocceius.

Zephaniah 3:3 In-Context

1 Woe! thou city, stirrer to wrath, and bought again a culver. (Woe! O city, a stirrer to anger, filthy and defiled.)

2 It heard not the voice of the Lord, and received not teaching, either chastising; it trusted not in the Lord, it nighed not to her God. (It did not listen to the voice of the Lord, and did not accept his discipline, or his correction; it did not trust in the Lord, it did not come near to its God.)

3 Princes thereof in middle thereof were as lions roaring; judges thereof were wolves, in the eventide they left not into morrow. (Its princes in its midst were like roaring lions; its judges were like wolves, and by the evening they had left nothing for the next morning.)

4 [The] Prophets thereof were wild, and unfaithful men; [the] priests thereof defouled holy thing, they did unjustly against the law. (Its prophets were wild, and unfaithful men; its priests defiled the holy things/its priests defiled the holy place, and they did unrighteously, or wickedly, against the Law.)

5 The Lord is just in the middle thereof, and shall not do wickedness; early, early he shall give his doom in light, and it shall not be hid; forsooth the wicked people knew not confusion. (But the Lord in its midst is just, or is righteous, and shall never do wickedness; morning after morning he bringeth forth his judgement, and it shall never be hid; but the wicked people there were still not ashamed.)