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Zephaniah 1

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Universal Judgment Announced 1–6

1
The word of Jehovah 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. ​
2
I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah. ​
3
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, 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 Jehovah. ​
4
And I will stretch out my 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; ​
5
and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship, that swear to Jehovah and swear by Malcam; ​
6
and them that are turned back from following Jehovah; and those that have not sought Jehovah, nor inquired after him.

The Day of the LORD is Near 7–13

7
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jehovah is at hand: for Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath consecrated his guests. ​
8
And it shall come to pass in the day of Jehovah’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s sons, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel. ​
9
And in that day I will punish all those that leap over the threshold, that fill their master’s house with violence and deceit. ​
10
And in that day, saith Jehovah, there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. ​
11
Wail, ye inhabitants of Maktesh; for all the people of Canaan are undone; all they that were laden with silver are cut off. ​
12
And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps; and I will punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, neither will he do evil. ​
13
And 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. ​

The Great and Terrible Day of Wrath 14–18

14
The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of Jehovah; the mighty man crieth there bitterly. ​
15
That 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, ​
16
a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements.
17
And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung. ​
18
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he will make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Zephaniah 1

Verse 1

in the days of Josiah — Tsephanyah means 'the LORD has hidden'. Four fathers are named, the last Hizkiah, the same name the KJV spells Hezekiah for the king (2 Kgs 18:1), though the verse does not say he is that king. Josiah 'was eight years old when he began to reign' and reigned thirty-one years (2 Chr 34:1); Jeremiah's call falls in the same reign (Jer 1:2).

Verse 2

I will utterly consume all things — 'Consume' (suph, to bring to an end) is used three times in vv.2–3. The judgment is stated in the widest terms, 'all things from off the land', before it narrows to Judah (v.4). The same sentence is spoken over the land in 2 Kgs 22:16, 'I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof'.

Verse 3

man and beast… fowls… fishes — The list runs man, beast, birds, fish: the creatures of Gen 1:20–26 in reverse, and the same sweep as the Flood, 'I will destroy man… both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air' (Gen 6:7). 'Stumblingblocks' (makshelah) are idols, 'the stumblingblock of their iniquity' (Ezek 7:19).

Verse 4

the remnant of Baal — The first named target is Judah and Jerusalem. The Chemarim are idol priests, the same word as 'the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained' (2 Kgs 23:5). Baal worship still stood in Jerusalem, and its vessels were taken out of the temple of the LORD (2 Kgs 23:4), so this word falls before or during Josiah's removal of them.

Verse 5

swear by the LORD, and… by Malcham — Roofs were used for worship of 'the host of heaven' (Jer 19:13, 'upon whose roofs they have burned incense'), and Ahaz had altars 'on the top of the upper chamber' (2 Kgs 23:12). Malcham is 'their king', the Ammonite Milcom (1 Kgs 11:33). Swearing by both is the mixture of 2 Kgs 17:33, 'They feared the LORD, and served their own gods'.

Verse 7

Hold thy peace — Hasah, the hush of Hab 2:20 and Zech 2:13. 'At hand' echoes Joel 1:15, 'the day of the LORD is at hand'. The LORD prepares a 'sacrifice' (zebach) and has set apart (qadash) his 'guests', 'called ones'; Isa 34:6 uses the same picture, 'the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah'. Here the victims are in Judah.

Verse 8

the day of the LORD'S sacrifice — Paqad, to visit with punishment, is used here and in vv.9 and 12. Princes and 'the king's children' are named first. 'Strange' (nokri) means foreign. Israel's garments carried the LORD's own mark, a fringe with 'a ribband of blue' so that they would 'remember all the commandments of the LORD' (Num 15:38–39).

Verse 9

leap on the threshold — The phrase may recall the custom at Dagon's house, where none 'tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod' (1 Sam 5:5). The verse itself names the fault: masters' houses filled 'with violence and deceit'. Chamas is the violence of Hab 2:17, and Amos 3:10 speaks of those who 'store up violence and robbery in their palaces'.

Verse 10

the fish gate — Manasseh's wall ran 'to the entering in at the fish gate' (2 Chr 33:14), and the sons of Hassenaah built it in Nehemiah's day (Neh 3:3). 'The second' is mishneh, the second quarter of the city, the 'college' where Huldah the prophetess dwelt (2 Kgs 22:14). The howling comes 'from the second' and the crashing 'from the hills'.

Verse 11

Maktesh — A name in Jerusalem meaning a hollow or dell. 'Merchant' is Kena'an, Canaan itself, a name that came to mean trader, as in 'He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand' (Hos 12:7). Those who 'bear silver' are cut off, and in v.18 neither their silver nor their gold 'shall be able to deliver them'.

Verse 12

settled on their lees — Wine left on its dregs grows thick and still, as Moab 'hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel' (Jer 48:11). They treat the LORD like an idol: idols are challenged to 'do good, or do evil' (Isa 41:23), and these men say he does neither. He searches 'with candles' (lamps), so no house is passed over.

Verse 13

build houses, but not inhabit them — Each loss is a curse set out in Deut 28: 'thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein' (v.30) and 'Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine' (v.39). Amos had given the same warning (Amos 5:11), and Micah 6:15 adds sowing without reaping.

Verse 14

The great day of the LORD is near — 'Near' is said twice, as in Ezek 30:3, 'the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near'. 'The mighty man' (gibbor) is the one who 'shall cry there bitterly'. Joel 2:11 speaks of the same day: 'the LORD shall utter his voice before his army'. Mal 4:5 calls it 'the great and dreadful day of the LORD'.

Verse 15

a day of darkness and gloominess — The word 'day' stands six times, five of them as 'a day of'. 'Darkness', 'gloominess', 'clouds' and 'thick darkness' are the four words of Joel 2:2. Amos had told those who desired the day that 'the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light' (Amos 5:18), and Rev 6:17 speaks of 'the great day of his wrath'.

Verse 17

walk like blind men — The blindness is the covenant curse of Deut 28:29, 'thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness'. The cause is stated in the verse: 'because they have sinned against the LORD'. Blood poured out 'as dust' and flesh 'as the dung' recall Jer 16:4, 'they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth'.

Verse 18

the fire of his jealousy — Silver and gold cannot deliver, as in Ezek 7:19 and Prov 11:4, 'Riches profit not in the day of wrath'. The 'fire of his jealousy' is the God who is 'a consuming fire, even a jealous God' (Deut 4:24), and the words return at 3:8: 'all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy'.