Zephaniah 1
1
1The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. 2I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith the LORD. 3I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of the ground, saith the LORD. 4And I will stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarim with the priests; 5and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship, which swear to the LORD and swear by Malcam; 6and them that are turned back from following the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor inquired after him.
7Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath sanctified his guests. 8And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's sons, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel. 9And in that day I will punish all those that leap over the threshold, which fill their master's house with violence and deceit. 10And in that day, saith the LORD, there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. 11Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone: all they that were laden with sliver are cut off. 12And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles; and I will punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil. 13And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: yea, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof.
14The great day of the LORD is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD; the mighty man crieth there bitterly. 15That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fenced cities, and against the high battlements. 17And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung. 18Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land.
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Zephaniah 1: RV1895
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historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Zephaniah 1
1
1This is the message that the Lord gave to Zephaniah. He was the son of Cushti, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah.#1:1. Probably king Hezekiah, one of the previous kings of Judah. This happened when Josiah, son of Amon, was king of Judah.
2I will completely sweep away everything from the face of the earth, declares the Lord. 3I will sweep away people and animals, I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. I will overthrow#1:3. Literally, “stumbling-blocks,” which makes the meaning unclear. the wicked; I will destroy human beings from the face of the earth. 4I will strike#1:4. Literally, “stretch out my hand against.” Judah and everyone who lives in Jerusalem. I will destroy all that remains of their Baal worship along with their pagan priests so that even their names will be forgotten.#1:4. Implied. 5I will destroy those who go up to the rooftops to bow down before the sun, moon, and stars. They also bow down and swear allegiance to the Lord, but then they do the same to Milcom.#1:5. Or “Molech,” a pagan god. 6I will destroy those who once worshiped the Lord but don't anymore. They don't seek the Lord or ask for my help.
7Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near: the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.#1:7. In the context, Israel is the sacrifice, and the Babylonians are the “guests.” 8Then on the day of the Lord's sacrifice I will punish the officials and the king's sons, and those who follow pagan ways#1:8. Literally, “those who dress in foreign clothes.”. 9I will also punish those who jump over the threshold.#1:9. The meaning of this is debated. Some think it was a pagan custom (see for example 1 Samuel 5:4-5). Others tie it to the following verse and see it as eagerness to rob the poor. On that day I will punish those who fill up their masters' houses using violence and deception. 10On that day, declares the Lord, a cry of grief will come from the Fish Gate, a wailing from the Second Quarter, and a loud crash from the hills. 11Those who live in the Market District#1:11. Literally, “the Mortar.” will wail in sorrow, for all the merchants#1:11. Literally, “people of Canaan.” are destroyed, along with those who trade in silver. 12At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps and I will punish those self-satisfied people, who are like wine left on its dregs, who say to themselves, “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil.”#1:12. In other words, they dismiss the Lord because they don't think he cares about them. 13Their possessions will be looted; their houses will be demolished. They will build houses, but not live in them; they will plant vineyards, but not drink the wine.
14The great day of the Lord is near and approaching rapidly. It will be a bitter day—even warriors will cry out loud. 15It will be a day of anger,#1:15. The expression of God being angry or full of wrath is a frequent image in the prophetic writings, but should not be understood in the same way as human anger. God's anger is not emotional like some kind of unthinking “red mist,” but a principled opposition to all that is evil. God uses this anger to try to convince those who are wrong to do what is right for their own sake, not because he “gets mad” and lashes out. Human anger is self-centered; divine anger is other-centered. a day of trouble and distress, a day of disaster and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, 16a day of trumpet calls and battle cries against fortified cities and watchtowers. 17I will bring trouble on humanity, making them walk like blind people because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be spilled like so much dust; their intestines like dung. 18Their silver and their gold won't help to save them on the day of the Lord's anger. The whole earth will be burned up by the fire of his jealous#1:18. “Jealous” when applied to God is not the same as human jealousy. It means God's strong desire that people follow only him, for he alone can save. He wants an exclusive relationship for he knows that anything else leads to disaster. anger. He will make sure the end of the people of the world is sudden and complete.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com