Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city!
Parallel Translations
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Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city!
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Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
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Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Zephaniah 3:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 6:6 For Yahweh of Armies said, “Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She is wholly oppression within herself.
- Isaiah 30:12 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it,
- Isaiah 59:13 transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
- Ezekiel 22:7 In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow.
- Zechariah 7:10 Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’
- Malachi 3:5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Leviticus 1:16 and he shall take away its crop and its feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes.
- Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
- Jeremiah 22:17 But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”
- Micah 2:2 They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
- Ezekiel 22:29 The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery. Yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.
- Amos 3:9 Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among them.”
- Amos 4:1 Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”
- Ezekiel 23:30 These things will be done to you, because you have played the prostitute after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet speaks here again against Jerusalem; for first,…
The Prophet speaks here again against Jerusalem; for first, the Jews ought ever to have been severely reproved, as they were given to many sins; and secondly, because there was always there some seed which needed consolation: and this has been the way pursued, as we have hitherto seen, by all the Prophets. But we must also bear in mind, that the books now extant were made up of prophetic addresses, that we might understand what was the sum of the doctrine delivered.
The Prophet here makes this charge against the Jews, that they were polluted and become filthy. And he addresses Jerusalem, where the sanctuary was; and it might therefore seem to have been superior to other cities; for God had not in vain chosen that as the place for his worship. But the Prophet shows how empty and fallacious was any boasting of this kind; for the city which God had consecrated for himself had polluted itself with many sins. The Prophet seems to allude to the ancient rites of the law, which, though many, had been prescribed, we know, by God, that the people might observe a holy course of life: for the ceremonies could not of themselves wash away their filth; but the people were instructed by these external things to worship God in a holy and pure manner. As then they often washed themselves with water, and as they carefully observed other rites of outward sanctity, the Prophet derides their hypocrisy, for they did not regard the real design of the ceremonies. Hence he says, that they were polluted, though in appearance they might be deemed the most pure; for they were defiled as to their whole life.
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He adds that the city was היונה, eiune; some render it the city of dove, or, a dove; for the word has this meaning: and they take it metaphorically for a foolish and thoughtless city, as we find it to be so understood in Hosea 7:11; where Ephraim was said to be a dove, because the people were void of reason and knowledge, and of their own accord exposed themselves to traps and snares. Some then consider this place to have this meaning,—that Jerusalem, which ought to have been wise, was yet wholly fatuitous and foolish. But it may be easily gathered from the context, that the Prophet means another thing, even this,—that Jerusalem was given to plunder and fraud; for the verb ינה, ine, signifies to defraud and to take by force what belongs to another; and it means also to circumvent as well as to plunder. He therefore means no doubt, that Jerusalem was a city full of every kind of iniquity, as he had before called it a polluted city; and then he adds an explanation.
The Prophet in the first verse seems to have in view the two tables of the law. God, we know, requires in the law that his people should be holy; and then he teaches the way of living justly and innocently. Hence when the Prophet called Jerusalem a polluted city, he meant briefly to show that the whole worship of God was there corrupted, and that no regard for true religion flourished there; for the Jews thought that they had performed all their duty to God, when they washed away their filth by water. Such was the extremely foolish notion which they entertained: but we know and they ought to have known that the worship of God is spiritual. He afterwards adds, that the city was rapacious, under which term he includes every kind of injustice.
It follows, She heard not the voice, she received not correction. The Prophet now explains and defines what the pollution was of which he had spoken: for true religion begins with teachableness; when we submit to God and to his word, it is really to enter on the work of worshipping him aright. But when heavenly truth is despised, though men may toil much in outward rites, yet their impiety discovers itself by their contumacy, inasmuch as they suffer not themselves to be ruled by God’s authority. Hence the Prophet shows, that whatever the Jews thought of their purity at Jerusalem, it was nothing but filth and pollution. He says, that they were unteachable, because they did not hear the Prophets sent to them by God.
This ought to be carefully noticed; for without this beginning many torment themselves in the work of serving God, and do nothing, because obedience is better than sacrifice. If, then, we wish our efforts to be approved by God, we must begin with faith; for except the word of God obtains credit with us, whatever we may offer to him are mere human inventions. It is, in the second place, added, that they did not receive correction; and this was no superfluous addition. For when God sees that we are not submissive, and that we do not willingly come to him when he calls us, he strengthens his instruction by chastisements. He allures us at first to himself, he employs kind and gentle invitations; but when he sees us delaying, or even going back, he begins to treat us more roughly and more severely: for teaching without the goads of reproof would have no effect. But when God teaches and reproves in vain, it then appears that our disposition is wicked and perverse. So the Prophet intended here to show the wickedness of his people as extreme, by saying, that they heard not the voice nor received correction; as though he had said, that the wickedness of his people was unhealable, for they not only rejected the doctrine of salvation, when offered, but also obstinately rejected all warnings, and would not bear any correction.
But we must bear in mind, that the Prophet had to do with that holy people whom God had chosen as his peculiar treasure. There is therefore no reason why those who profess the name of Christians at this day should exempt themselves from this condemnation; for our condition is not better than the condition of that people. Jerusalem was in an especial manner, as we have already said, the sanctuary, as it were, of God: and yet we see how severely the Prophet reproves Jerusalem and all its inhabitants. We have no cause to flatter ourselves, except we willingly submit to God, and suffer ourselves to be ruled by his word, and except we also patiently bear correction, when his teaching takes no suitable effect, and when there is need of sharp goads to stimulate us.
He afterwards adds, that it did not trust in the Lord, nor draw nigh to its God. The Prophet discovers here more clearly the spring of impiety—that Jerusalem placed not the hope of salvation in God alone; for from hence flowed all the mass of evils which prevailed; because if we inquire how it is that men burn with avarice, why they are insatiable, and why they wantonly defraud and plunder one another, we shall find the cause to be this—that they trust not in God. Rightly then does the Prophet mention this here, among other pollutions at Jerusalem, as the chief—that it did not put its trust in God. The same also is the cause and origin of all superstitions; for if men felt assured that God alone is enough for them, they would not follow here and there their own inventions. We hence see that unbelief is not only the mother of all the evil deeds by which men willfully wrong and injure one another, but that it is also the cause of all superstitions.
He says, in the last place, that it did not draw nigh to God. The Prophet no doubt charges the Jews that they willfully departed from God when he was nigh them; yea, that they wholly alienated themselves from him, while he was ready to cherish them, as it were, in his own bosom. This is indeed a sin common to all who seek not God; but Jerusalem sinned far more grievously, because she would not draw nigh to God, by whom she saw that she was sought. For why was the law given, why was adoption vouchsafed, and in short, why had they the various ordinances of religion, except that they might join themselves to God? ‘And now Israel,’ said Moses, ‘what does the Lord thy God require of thee, except to cleave to him?’ God thus intended his law to be, as it were, a sacred bond of union between him and the Jews. Now when they wandered here and there, that they might not be united to him, it was a diabolical madness. Hence the Prophet here does not only accuse the Jews of not seeking God, but of withdrawing themselves from him; and thus they were ungovernable. The Lord sought to tame them; but they were like wild beasts. It now follows—
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, Jerusalem.
That is, Jerusalem.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Zep 3:1 Woe to her that is filthy and…
Zep 3:1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
Ver. 1. Woe to her that is filthy and polluted] Meaning Jerusalem, once a faithful city, now an harlot, Isa 1:21, faedissimum prostibulum, of the kind of those sordid men who are called Borboritae, of their miry filthiness, whom Epiphanius and Oecumenius speak of. The word ( ראי) here rendered filthy comes from a word that signifieth dung, or that signifieth an example (παραδειγμα); and so it is a metaphor taken from light women that are carted in a disgraceful way and made a public example, an infamous instance. It is rendered also gluttonous, or all craw, as Lev 1:16.
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“ Ingluvies et tempestas, barathrumque macelli. ”
To the oppressing city!] Praedatrici, that maketh a prey of others (either by force or fraud), as the silly dove is made a prey to the hawk and other ravenous birds.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The prophet showed us Nineveh in ruins for her…
The prophet showed us Nineveh in ruins for her sins; from this doleful spectacle he brings us to take a prospect of what would come upon Jerusalem, which ere long will be full of woes, because now full of sin.
Filthy; loathsome in her sins, so foul they are, and so abominably acted. A city, that, like an infamous woman, is branded for her impudence in sin. Or, Woe to the great craw! as pointing out the gluttony of Jerusalem literally, and their swallowing the poor who were a prey to the great ones.
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Polluted; greatly polluted by this means.
To the oppressing city; or the city foolish and seduced, as a silly dove; so the Hebrew will bear: but our version is to be preferred; it is come to that pass, Jerusalem is a city that doth nothing but oppress, Jer 6:6; Eze 22.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain One would wonder that Jerusalem, the holy city, where…
One would wonder that Jerusalem, the holy city, where God was known, and his name was great, should be the city of which this black character is here given, that a place which enjoyed such abundance of the means of grace should become so very corrupt and vicious, and that God should permit it to be so; yet so it is, to show that the law made nothing perfect; but if this be the true character of Jerusalem, as no doubt it is (for God's judgments will make none worse than they are), it is no wonder that the prophet begins with woe to her. For the holy God hates sin in those that are nearest to him, nay, in them he hates it most. A sinful state is, and will be, a woeful state.
I. Here is a very bad character given of the city in general. How has the faithful city become a harlot! 1. She shames herself; she is filthy and polluted (Zep 3:1), has made herself infamous (so some read it), the gluttonous city (so the margin), always cramming, and making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it. Sin is the filthiness and pollution of persons and places, and makes them odious in the sight of the holy God. 2. She wrongs her neighbours and inhabitants; she is the oppressing city. Never any place had statutes and judgments so righteous as this city had, and yet, in the administration of the government, never was more unrighteousness. 3. She is very provoking to her God, and in every respect walks contrary to him, Zep 3:2. He had given his law, and spoken to her by his servants the prophets, telling her what was the good she should do and what the evil she should avoid; but she obeyed not his voice, nor made conscience of doing as he commanded her, in any thing. He had taken her under an excellent discipline, both of the word and of the rod; but she did not receive the instruction of the one nor the correction of the other, did not submit to God's will nor answer his end in either. He encouraged her to depend upon him, and his power and promise, for deliverance from evil and supply with good; but she trusted not in the Lord; her confidence was placed in her alliances with the nations more than in her covenant with God. He gave her tokens of his presence, and instituted ordinances of communion for her with himself; but she drew not near to her God, did not meet him where he appointed and where he promised to meet her. She stood at a distance, and said to the Almighty, Depart.
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II. Here is a very bad character of the leading men in it; those that should by their influence suppress vice and profaneness there are the great patterns and patrons of wickedness, and those that should be her physicians are really her worst disease. 1. Her princes are ravenous and barbarous as roaring lions that make a prey of all about them, and they are universally feared and hated; they use their power for destruction, and not for edification. 2. Her judges, who should be the protectors of injured innocence, are evening wolves, rapacious and greedy, and their cruelty and covetousness both insatiable: They gnaw not the bones till the morrow; they take so much delight and pleasure in cruelty and oppression that when they have devoured a good man they reserve the bones, as it were, for a sweet morsel, to be gnawed the next morning, Job 31:31. 3. Her prophets, who pretend to be special messengers from heaven to them, are light and treacherous persons, fanciful, and of a vain imagination, frothy and airy, and of a loose conversation, men of no consistency with themselves, in whom one can put no confidence. They were so given to bantering that it was hard to say when they were serious. Their pretended prophecies were all a sham, and they secretly laughed at those that were deluded by them. 4. Her priests, who are teachers by office and have the charge of the holy things, are false to their trust and betray it. They were to preserve the purity of the sanctuary, but they did themselves pollute it, and the sacred offices of it, which they were to attend upon - such priests as Hophni and Phinehas, who by their wicked lives made the sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred. They were to expound and apply the law, and to judge according to it; but, in their explications and applications of it, they did violence to the law; they corrupted the sense of it, and perverted it to the patronising of that which was directly contrary to it. By forced constructions, they made the law to speak what they pleased, to serve a turn, and so, in effect, made void the law.
III. We have here the aggravations of this general corruption of all orders and degrees of men in Jerusalem.
1. They had the tokens of God's presence among them, and all the advantages that could be of knowing his will, with the strongest inducements possible to do it, and yet they persisted in their disobedience, Zep 3:5. (1.) They had the honour and privilege of the Shechinah, God's dwelling in their land, so as he dwelt not with any other people: "The just Lord is in the midst of thee, to take cognizance of all thou doest amiss and give countenance to all thou doest well; he is in the midst of thee as a holy God, and therefore thy pollutions are the more offensive, Deu 23:14. He is in the midst of you as a just God, and therefore will punish the affronts you put upon him, and the wrongs and injuries you do to one another." (2.) They had God's own example set before them, in the discovery he made of himself to them, that they might conform to it: "He will not do iniquity, and therefore you should not;" for this was the great rule of their institution, "Be you holy, for I am holy. God will be true to you; be not you then false to him." (3.) He sent to them his prophets, rising up early and sending them: Every morning he brings his judgment to light, as duly as the morning comes; he fails not. He shows them plainly what the good is which he requires of them, and puts them in mind of it; he wakens morning by morning (Isa 50:4), wakens his prophets with the rising sun, to bring to light the things which belong to their peace. So that, upon the whole matter, what more could have been done to his vineyard, to make it fruitful? Isa 5:4. And yet, after all, the unjust know no shame; those that have been unjust are unjust still, and are not ashamed of their unrighteousness, neither can they blush. If they had any sense of honour, any shame left in them, they would not go so directly contrary to their profession and to the instructions given them. But those that are past shame are past cure.
2. God had set before their eyes some remarkable monuments of his justice, which were designed for warning to them (Zep 3:6): I have cut off the nations, the seven nations of Canaan, which the land spewed out for their wickedness, upon which they had this caution given them, to take heed lest it spew them out also, Lev 18:28. Or it may refer to some of the neighbouring nations that were made desolate for their wickedness, especially to the nations of Israel, the ten tribes. Their towers were desolate, their high towers, their strong towers, their pride and power broken; their streets were wasted, so that none passed along through them; their cities were destroyed and laid in ruins; no man was to be found in them, no inhabitant, all were slain or carried into captivity. The enemies did it, but God avows it: I cut them off, says he. And God designed this for an admonition to Jerusalem (Eze 23:9, Eze 23:11): "I said, Surely thou wilt fear me; surely these judgments upon others will deter thee from the like wicked practices; surely thou wilt receive instruction by these providences; it ought to be expected that thou wouldst not continue to sin like the nations when thou seest the ruin which their sin brought upon them." They could not but see their own house in danger when their neighbour's was on fire; and, when we are frightened, God should be feared.
3. He had set before them life and death, good and evil, both in his word and in his providence. (1.) He had assured them of the continuance of their prosperity if they would fear him and receive instruction, for so their dwelling would not be cut off as their neighbour's was; if they took the warning given them, and reformed, what was past should be pardoned, and their tranquility lengthened out. (2.) He had made them feel the smart of the rod, though he reprieved them from the sword: Howsoever I punished them, that, being chastened, they might not be condemned. Such various methods did God take with them, to reclaim them, but all in vain; they were not won upon by gentle methods, nor had severe ones any effect, for they rose early, and corrupted all their doings; they were more resolute and eager in their wicked courses than ever, more studious and solicitous in making provision for their lusts, and let slip no opportunity for the gratification of them. God rose up early, to send them his prophets, to reduce and reclaim them, but they were up before him, to shut and bolt the door against them. Their wickedness was universal: All their doings were corrupted; and it was all owing to themselves; they could not lay the blame upon the tempter, but they alone must bear it; they themselves wilfully and designedly corrupted all their doings; for every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust and enticed.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Woe to her that is filthy, and polluted Meaning…
Woe to her that is filthy, and polluted Meaning the city of Jerusalem, and its inhabitants; not as before the Babylonish captivity, but after their return from it, under the second temple, as Abarbinel owns; and even as in the times before and at the coming of Christ, and the preaching of his apostles among them; as the whole series of the prophecy, and the connection of the several parts of it, show; and there are such plain intimations of the conversion of the Gentiles, and of such a happy state of the Jews, in which they shall see evil no more, as can agree with no other times than the times of the Gospel, both the beginning and latter part of them. The character of this city, and its inhabitants, is, that it was "filthy", and polluted with murders, adulteries, oppression, rapine, and other sins: our Lord often calls them a wicked and an adulterous generation; and yet they pretended to great purity of life and manners; and they were pure in their own eyes, though not washed from their filthiness; they took much pains to make clean the outside of the cup, but within were full of impurity, ( Matthew 23:25-28 ) . In the margin it is, "woe to her that is gluttonous". The word is used for the craw or crop of a fowl, ( Leviticus 1:16 ) hence some render it F20 "woe to the craw"; to the city that is all craw, to which Jerusalem is compared for its devouring the wealth and substance of others. The Scribes and Pharisees in Christ's time are said to devour widows' houses, ( Matthew 23:14 ) and this seems to be the sin with which they were defiled, and here charged with. Some think the word signifies one that is publicly, infamous; either made a public example of, or openly exposed, as sometimes filthy harlots are; or rather one "that has made herself infamous" F21; by her sins and vices: to the oppressing city! that oppressed the poor, the widow, and the fatherless. This may have respect to the inhabitants of Jerusalem stoning the prophets of the Lord sent unto them; to the discouragements they laid the followers of Christ under, by not suffering such to come to hear him that were inclined; threatening to cast them out of their synagogues if they professed him, which passed into a law; and to their killing the Lord of life and glory; and the persecution of his apostles, ministers, and people: see ( Matthew 23:13 Matthew 23:37 ) ( John 9:22 ) ( 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 ) . Some render it, "to the city a dove" F23; being like a silly dove without heart, as in ( Hosea 7:11 ) . R. Azariah F24 thinks Jerusalem is so called because in its works it was like Babylon, which had for its military sign on its standard a dove; (See Gill on Jeremiah 25:38) (See Gill on Jeremiah 46:16) (See Gill on Hosea 11:11) but the former sense is best. FOOTNOTES: F20 (harwm ywh) "vae ingluviei", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. F21 (ouav th paradeigmatizomhnh) "vae huic quae infamatur", L'Empereur Not. in Mosis Kimchii (oidopozia) "ad scientiam", p. 174. so Drusius and Tarnovius. F23 (hnwyh ryex) (poliv h peristera) , Sept.; "civitas columba", V. L.; so Syr. Ar. Jarchi, and other Jewish interpreters. F24 Meor Enayin, c. 21. fol. 90. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Jerusalem threatened for her wickedness, ver. 1-7. A promise…
Jerusalem threatened for her wickedness, ver. 1-7. A promise of a glorious reformation, ver. 8-13. And deliverance consequent upon it, ver. 14-20.
To her - Jerusalem.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The prophet reproves Jerusalem, and all her guides and…
CHAPTER III
The prophet reproves Jerusalem, and all her guides and rulers,
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for their obstinate perseverance in impiety, notwithstanding
all the warnings and corrections which they had received from
God, 1-7.
They are encouraged, however, after they shall have been
chastised for their idolatry, and cured of it, to look for
mercy and restoration, 8-13;
and exited to hymns of joy at the glorious prospect, 14-17.
After which the prophet concludes with large promises of
favour and prosperity in the days of the Messiah, 18-20.
We take this extensive view of the concluding verses of this
chapter, because an apostle has expressly assured us that in
EVERY prophetical book of the Old Testament Scriptures are
confined predictions relative to the Gospel dispensation.
See Ac 3:24.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse 1. Wo to her that is filthy] This is a denunciation of Divine judgment against Jerusalem.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Zep 3:1-2. Wo to her that is filthy —…
Zep 3:1-2. Wo to her that is filthy — (Bishop Newcome reads, rebellious, and the Vulgate, provoking,) and polluted — That is, defiled with various crimes; to the oppressing city — It is well deserving of our notice, that the oppression of the poor is always ranked by God among those things which are most offensive to him. She obeyed not the voice — Namely, of God’s messengers, the prophets. She received not correction — Or instruction, as מוסר may be rendered: she did not attend to it; was not amended by it. She trusted not in the Lord — Did not place her confidence and hopes in the power and goodness of God, but in other things. She drew not near to God — In prayer and praise, and other acts of worship.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The “woe,” having gone round the pagan nations, again…
The “woe,” having gone round the pagan nations, again circles round where it began, the “Jerusalem that killed the prophets and stoned those that were sent unto her” Mat 23:37. Woe upon her, and joy to the holy Jerusalem, the “new Jerusalem Rev 3:12; Rev 21:10, the Jerusalem which is from above, the mother of us all,” close this prophecy; both in figure; destruction of her and the whole earth, in time, the emblem of the eternal death; and the love of God, the foretaste of endless joy in Him.
Woe - “Rebellious and polluted;” “thou oppressive city!” . The address is the more abrupt, and bursts more upon her, since the prophet does not name her. He uses as her proper name, not her own name, city of peace,” but “rebellious,” “polluted;” then he sums up in one, thou “oppressive city.”
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Jerusalem’s sin is threefold, actively rebelling against God; then, inwardly defiled by sin; then cruel to man. So then, toward God, in herself, toward man, she is wholly turned to evil, not in passing acts, but in her abiding state:
(1) rebellious
(2) defiled
(3) oppressive
She is known only by what she has become, and what has been done for her in vain. She is rebellious, and so had had the law; defiled, and so had been cleansed; and therefore her state is the more hopeless.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Dove. Jerusalem is upbraided, and then comforted. She had…
Dove. Jerusalem is upbraided, and then comforted. She had been treated like a spouse, a dove; and yet proved faithless. (Calmet) --- Hebrew, "Woe to the famous, and defiled, and oppressing city." Septuagint agree with us, if we only exchange famous for provoking. (Haydock) --- After being redeemed from Egypt, the Jews ungratefully followed idols, Osee vii. 11. (Menochius) --- Jerusalem having been freely chosen and favoured above other places, and still provoking God, cannot escape a severe chastisement. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain WOE UPON THE POLLUTED CITY OF JERUSALEM, Zep_3:1-7.
WOE UPON THE POLLUTED CITY OF JERUSALEM, Zep_3:1-7.
In Zep_3:1, the prophet turns once more to Jerusalem, “the rebellious and unclean, the city of oppression.” He strikes the same notes as in chapter i, only here he emphasizes almost exclusively moral and social vices. Her princes are thieves, her prophets “bold jugglers instead of God’s witnesses,” her priests profane the sanctuary (1-4). Jehovah has done all he could to win the city back to purity, but in vain; her inhabitants “corrupted all their doings” (5-7).
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Woe — Introduces not only a threat, but also a lament, prompted by sorrow and compassion.
Filthy — Better, R.V., “rebellious,” that is, against Jehovah.
Polluted — By the heathenish religious practices condemned in Zep_1:4-6, as well as by the acts of violence and bloodshed described in Zep_1:8-9, and Zep_3:3-7.
Oppressing — Not other cities. Within the city itself the poor and weak were being oppressed by the strong and powerful. A more forceful rendering would be, “Woe, rebellious and polluted! city of oppression!”
Zep_3:2-4 explain the epithets in Zep_3:1; Zep_3:2 explains “rebellious.” Jerusalem’s rebellion against Jehovah manifested itself under four aspects: (1)
She obeyed not the voice — The voice of Jehovah as it spoke through the prophets (see on Amo_2:11-12). (2)
She received not correction — Margin, “instruction.” If the marginal translation is correct this clause is practically equivalent to the preceding. It is more likely, however, that the prophet is thinking of instruction given by means of chastisements, such as are described, for example, in Amo_4:6-11, or Isa_9:8-21. The two clauses are found together again in Jer_7:28. (3)
She trusted not in Jehovah — The original is more forceful, Jehovah standing at the head: “In Jehovah she did not trust.” Instead, she trusted in Assyria (2Ki_16:7-9) or in Egypt (Isa_30:31). Compare also the constant complaint of Hosea (see p. 19f.). (4)
She drew not near to her God — In spirit and truth, as she should have done in view of the covenant relation existing between Jehovah and Israel (compare the refrain in Amo_4:6-11, “but ye did not return unto me”). Their worship was mere form, and not a true approach to Jehovah.
Zep_3:3-4 explain “polluted” and “oppressing” (Zep_3:1). The corruption is widespread. Political and ecclesiastical leaders are equally guilty (compare Mic_3:9-11).
Princes — See on Hos_3:4.
Roaring lions — Seeking whom they might devour (compare Eze_19:1-3; 1Pe_5:8).
Judges — The men in judicial positions, whose duty it was to guard the rights of others; instead, they devour all like wild beasts.
Evening wolves — See on Hab_1:8. In both passages LXX. reads erroneously “wolves of Arabia.” Wolves may be less powerful than lions, but they are equally greedy and bloodthirsty.
They gnaw not the bones till the morrow — R.V., “they leave nothing till the morrow.” The meaning of the verb is uncertain. Another translation has been suggested, “that have not gnawed a bone in (=since) morning”; as a result they are hungry and ferocious in the evening. The form of the verb is in favor of the last translation, but the preposition before “morning” cannot mean “since.” The translation “leave” is supported by some of the ancient versions, but it can be had from the Hebrew only in a roundabout way. The translation “gnaw the bones” assumes, not without reason, that the verb is a denominative form of a noun “bone.” The verb occurs only three times in the Old Testament — in Num_24:8; Eze_23:34, and here. The passage in Ezekiel is thought to be corrupt, therefore it is of little value in determining the meaning of the verb. In Numbers it means “to gnaw” (a bone, but the noun is added); it is quite natural, therefore, to give the verb the same meaning in this passage, and this A.V. does. Schwally, unable to see any sense in the clause as it stands at present, omits the negative and reads, “they do gnaw bones till morning”; that is, all night long they go about devouring everything that comes in their way. The negative might easily have slipped in from Zep_3:2, but if Schwally is right the imperfect would be expected in Hebrew instead of the perfect. It seems better to retain the negative. The prophet refers to the judges as evening wolves; they are ravenous, tearing everything that comes in their way. In the light of this statement “to gnaw bones until morning” would be practically equivalent to “to spend all night in devouring the prey.” What the prophet means to say is that they are too greedy to do this; they do not leave anything until morning, but devour all at one time. The translations of the ancients may be explained as attempts to present smoother readings.
The expression is undoubtedly awkward, but the interpretation given is that favored by the present Hebrew text, which may, however, be in disorder.
The religious leaders are no better.
Her prophets — The false prophets (see on Mic_3:7), not men like Zephaniah.
Light — Vainglorious and boastful; LXX., “carried by the wind” — bags of wind. “The figure is that of the boiling over of water, and the word characterizes the prophets as vaporers, extravagant and arrogant in their own imaginations and conceits, their minds lacking the restraint of the word of God under which the true prophets spoke” (Jer_23:22; Eze_22:28).
Treacherous persons — Literally, men of treacheries. The verb underlying the noun “treachery” is used frequently of faithlessness to the marriage vow, in a literal or figurative sense (Jer_3:20; Hos_6:7); hence the expression may mean “men who are faithless to Jehovah;” but an additional thought is implied: because they are faithless to Jehovah they betray and lead astray the people.
Priests — Condemned severely by Micah (Mic_3:11) and especially by Hosea (Hos_4:4 ff.).
Polluted the sanctuary — Better, that which is holy, which includes everything that belongs to Jehovah or is connected with him. These things they have profaned or polluted by disregarding their sanctity and treating them to suit their own fancies and interests (compare Eze_22:26).
They have done violence to the law — Not law in the narrow sense of that term, nor the laws concerning clean and unclean things, but every expression of the will of Jehovah (see on Hos_4:6). In trying to serve their own interests they have disregarded the teaching of Jehovah, and in order to justify their own conduct they have perverted it (Isa_5:20).
5, 6. In striking contrast to the people’s unrighteousness is Jehovah’s righteousness. He manifests himself continually as a God of mercy and a God of power. Zep_3:5 emphasizes the former, Zep_3:6 the latter; both have failed to accomplish the conversion of the people.
The just Lord is in the midst thereof — Better, R.V., “Jehovah in the midst of her is righteous.” Jerusalem was in a special sense the dwelling place of Jehovah (compare Isa_2:3). Righteous (R.V.) — He always did that which was right and proper in view of the covenant relation existing between him and Israel (compare Deu_32:4).
He will not do — Better, he doeth not, for Zep_3:5 describes the conduct of Jehovah in the past, present, and future.
Iniquity — That which is contrary to the spirit of the covenant. 5b enumerates some of the things that Jehovah does for his people from day to day.
Every morning — Literally, morning by morning.
Bring his judgment to light — R.V., “justice.” Judgment is used here not in the sense of punitive judgment, which Jehovah executes daily, nor of his righteous will which he makes known through his prophets and other teachers, but of his righteous acts, which he executes from day to day in carrying on the government of the world.
He faileth not — Literally, not is omitted=without fail.
But the unjust knoweth no shame — The righteous acts of Jehovah awaken no response in those who are unrighteous, that is, those who live without regard for the covenant that exists between Jehovah and them. Without shame or contrition they persist in their evil conduct.
Zep_3:5 contains several linguistic peculiarities; as a result textual corruptions have been suspected, and various emendations have been proposed. Marti reads, “Jehovah in the midst of her is righteous, he does no iniquity; morning by morning he shows forth his righteous acts (er setzt in Kraft seine Ordnung); light is never misled, error is unknown.”
Zep_3:6 points to divine manifestations in history, which should have had a salutary effect upon the people.
I have cut off — The change to the first person is unexpected, but there is no reason for doubting its originality. To make the address more forceful Jehovah is introduced as the speaker.
The nations — Literally, nations, without the article. The reference is not to the nations threatened with destruction in Zep_2:4-15, but to nations cut off in the past.
Towers — See on Zep_1:16. Here the term seems to include palaces or citadels. Fortifications, streets (open country), and cities were wasted so completely that no one passed along the streets and no inhabitant remained in the city (compare Jer_33:10).
7. The deeds enumerated in Zep_3:5-6 Jehovah did in the expectation that his righteous acts would bring Jerusalem to her senses; this verse declares that the expectation was not realized.
I said — To myself; I thought (Jer_3:19), when planning the acts.
Surely thou wilt fear me — Perhaps the third person should be read — “Surely she will fear me, she will receive instruction.” Jehovah expected that as a result of his manifestations the inhabitants of Jerusalem would maintain a reverential attitude toward him (see on Hos_10:3).
So their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them — The pronouns “their” and “them” are in the original “her,” that is, Jerusalem. The thought expressed in this translation seems to be that Jehovah hoped that the acts of his providence would lead the people to repentance, so that he would not be compelled to cut them off from their dwelling place. R.V. gives a different meaning to the second clause, “according to all that I have appointed concerning her.” This might be understood as supplying the reason for the cutting off — Jehovah had appointed it; or it might give the reason for Jehovah’s hope for repentance; he desired the city to remain, for he had ordained it so. Both A.V. and R.V. do more or less violence to the Hebrew text. The difficulties vanish if the reading of LXX. and Peshitto, which presupposes a slight change in a single word, is substituted for the present Hebrew text, “and not will vanish from her eyes all that I have commanded her.” Jehovah expected his providence to lead his people to loyal obedience.
They rose early, and corrupted all their doings — They were so anxious to do wrong that they rose early in the morning; equivalent to “they zealously corrupted all their doings” (compare Jer_7:13; Jer_11:8). The expectation of Jehovah was not realized; on the contrary, the corruption increased.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. filthy and polluted] As R.V., rebellious and polluted.…
1. filthy and polluted] As R.V., rebellious and polluted. Her “pollution” comes from bloodshed (Isa_1:15, “your hands are full of blood;” Eze_24:9, “Woe to the bloody city”), but possibly also partly from other sins, cf. Isa_4:4, “the filth of the daughters of Zion.” The term “polluted” is specially connected with blood, Isa_59:3; Lam_4:14.
the oppressing city] The word is used by Jeremiah of the sword, Jer_46:16. Cf. Isa_1:21, “How is the city that was faithful become an harlot! Full of justice, righteousness lodging in her—but now murderers!”
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Ch. Zep_3:1-8. Renewed threat against Jerusalem in particular
Ch. 3 returns to Jerusalem. The city is reproached as rebellious, polluted, and full of oppression (Zep_3:1); disobedient to God and neglectful of His word and of the lessons of His operations in the world of the nations (Zep_3:2). All classes within her are corrupt: her princes violent, her judges venal and greedy (Zep_3:3), her prophets unstable and false, and her priests profaners of what is holy and perverters of the Torah (Zep_3:4 ff.).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1-4) The prophet denounces the corruption and moral obduracy…
III.
(1-4) The prophet denounces the corruption and moral obduracy which characterise all classes in Jerusalem. This denunciation comes in with startling abruptness. The prophet does not even name the object of his reproof. The literal rendering is, Woe, rebellious and polluted, thou oppressive city!
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 1-5. The prophet turns to Jerusalem, and warns…
Vers. 1-5. The prophet turns to Jerusalem, and warns her that, if God punishes the heathen, he will not spare the hardened sinners in Judah.
Woe to her! This is addressed to Jerusalem, as is seen by vers. 2-4. Filthy; rather, rebellious, i.e. against God. The LXX, mistaking the word, renders epifanhv , "notable." So the Syriac. Jerome has provocatrix. The true sense is seen by the expansion of the term in ver. 2. polluted by her many sins. Jerome, following the Septuagint apoleutrwmenh , "ransomed," has, redempta, which he explains, "Captivitatibus traditia, et rursum redempta." The oppressing city, that acts unjustly and cruelly to the weak and poor. So the three sins for which she is here denounced are that she is rebellious against God, defiled with sin in herself, and cruel to others. The Septuagiut and Vulgate translate jonah ("oppressing") "dove," which seems singularly inappropriate here, though some try to explain it as applied to Jerusalem in the sense of "silly" or "stupid" (Hos_7:11)
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Vers. 1-8. Guilt and retribution.
Having taken a mental survey of the surrounding heathen nations, the seer returns again in thought to his own people. It was, indeed, in their interest that he had been led to take this wide review of God"s dealings with men. He desired to make very real to them the Divine law that sin cannot go unpunished, and that national guilt must inevitably be followed by chastisement; yea, more, that if this law operated in heathen lands, much more might they expect to come under it who had enjoyed the special illumination of God"s Spirit, to whom he had given his holy oracles, and amongst whom he had raised up a succession of faithful men to guide them into the paths of truth and righteousness. In these verses observe
I THE PROPHET PRESENTS A HEAVY INDICTMENT, SETTING FORTH THE GUILT OF JUDAH AND JERUSALEM.
1. This indictment contained certain counts, directed against the people in general. They were charged with
(1) inward defilement: "filthy and polluted" (ver. 1);
(2) outward tyranny: "the oppressing city" (ver. 1);
(3) practical atheism.
God had spoken unto them, but they had not hearkened unto his voice (ver. 2). He had corrected them, but they did not humble themselves under his chastening hand (ver. 2). He had offered himself to them as the Object of trust, but they withheld their confidence from him, and rested in an arm of flesh (ver. 2). He had intimated his willingness to enter into fellowship with them, and to inspire and strengthen them, but "they drew not near unto him" (ver. 2). He had frustrated and brought to confusion their adversaries, and had covered with confusion and shame the godless nations around them, but instead of being warned by these Divine judgments, executed in their sight against evil doers, they had themselves wilfully persisted in their iniquity (vers. 6, 7).
2. This indictment contained also certain counts directed against the leaders of the nation in particular (vers. 3, 4).
(1) The princes were charged with cruelty, devouring, like roaring lions, those they ought to have protected (ver. 3).
(2) The judges were marked by greed and rapacity, and were insatiable as evening wolves, so that justice was perverted, and wrong remained unredressed (ver. 3).
(3) The prophets of the people, wire claimed to be messengers of God to them, were trifling and insincere, so that no reliance could be placed upon their words (ver. 4).
(4) The priests profaned the temple and its services, and dishonoured the Law they were appointed to expound and enforce (ver. 4).
II THE PROPHET DECLARED THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, AND THE CONSEQUENT RETRIBUTION THAT SHOULD BE EXPERIENCED BY THE EVIL DOERS. (Vers. 5, 1, 8) God is righteous (ver. 5). He is so absolutely and essentially. His perfections are all conformed to this, and, when truly contemplated by us, only render his righteousness the more manifest and intense to us. His Law is distinguished by this, and all his doings are guided by this. "He thinks, and feels, and purposes, and acts always according to what ought to be, and never in accommodation to what is; he makes uncompromising rectitude the rule of all his judgments and proceedings in all his dealings with men. He is not facile and bending, open to appeals and appliances from without, but inherently and unalterably righteous" (Candlish). And God being thus essentially and eternally righteous, iniquity cannot go unpunished; and transgressors persisting shamelessly in wrong doing must reap the due reward of their deeds. In no spirit of vindictiveness, but in strict accordance With this rectitude, so perfect and entire, by which he is characterized, God here, by "the mouth of his holy prophet," pronounced "woe" unto Jerusalem (ver. 1), and declared his "determination" to gather the godless nations and to assemble the rebellious kingdoms, and to pour upon them his indignation, etc. (ver. 8).
III THE PROPHET INDICATED THE TRUE ATTITUDE OF THE GOOD IN THE LAND WHILST THE PREVAILING INIQUITY WAS REACHING ITS CULMINATION AND WHEN THE JUDGMENTS OF HEAVEN SHOULD FALL. They should wait in the exercise of patience and of hope, assured that out of the chaos wrought by sin God would evolve his purposes of love, bringing good to the race. "Therefore wait for me, saith Jehovah" (ver. 8).
HOMILIES BY T. WHITELAW Vers. 1-8. Jerusalem the rebellious and polluted; or, the wickedness and woe of a degenerate city.
I THE NUMBER AND VARIETY OF HER SINS.
1. Rebellion. This, marking her attitude towards God, is amplified and detailed as consisting in four transgressions.
(1) Disobedience. She had not obeyed Jehovah"s voice speaking to her through the Law and the prophets, adjoining on her precepts and imposing on her duties, but, like an ordinary heathen nation, had said, "Who is Jehovah, that we should serve him, or that he should reign over us?
(2) Insubordination. She had not received correction, i.e. had not accepted with meek submission the discipline or chastisement Jehovah had laid upon her in consequence of her sins, as for instance when he brought against her Shishak of Egypt, (1Ki_14:25, 1Ki_14:26) Jehoash of Israel, (2Ki_14:13) Sargon or Sennacherib of Assyria, (2Ki_18:17 2Ch_32:1) but had resented it, not only adhering to her disobedient ways, but improving on them, "rising early and corrupting all her doings.
(3) Unbelief. Not trusting in Jehovah, she had alternately trusted in Assyria and Egypt. Whereas her confidence in Jerusalem"s stability and impregnability ought to have rested on the fact that Jehovah had chosen it to place his Name there, had entered into covenant with the nation of which it was the capital, had established in it his worship, and had promised to protect it, she was constantly basing her hopes on a political alliance either with the northern power against the southern, or with the southern against the northern. (Isa_36:6 Hos_14:3)
(4) Irreligion. Having renounced all faith in Jehovah, she had scarcely maintained the pretence of observing his worship had not drawn near to him, either externally in the way of celebrating those rites he had prescribed, or internally by pouring out her heart before him in supplication of his favour and help.
2. Pollution. This declares what the city was in herself. The completeness of her defilement discovered itself in the wickedness of all classes of her population, but more especially of her civil and spiritual rulers. Of the latter,
(1) the prophets were light and treacherous persons, vain glorious boasters, boiling up with their own conceited imaginings, men of treacheries who published their own false dreams as if these had been the true visions of, (Jer_23:32) and thus caused the people to err. (Mic_3:5) As they exercised their callings without having themselves been called to these by God, (Jer_14:14) they were not his prophets, but hers. Scarcely less polluted were
(2) the priests, who, as Jehovah"s ministers, ought to have been holy, (Lev_21:6 Num_16:5) but who, through being themselves impure, profaned that which is holy, or defiled the sanctuary and all connected with it its rites, persons, things, places, sacrifices, and violated the Law (Eze_22:26) "by treating what was holy as profane.
3. Oppression. Revealing her behaviour towards man: her civic dignitaries practised cruelties ferocious and unprovoked upon those over whom they ruled.
(1) Her princes in the midst of her, i.e. her kings and nobles, like roaring lions rushing on their prey, (Pro_27:15) ground down her poor and unresisting population by excessive taxations and labours.
(2) Her judges, in their administration of law and (so called) justice, were so fixedly bent on their own enrichment, and so insatiably greedy of their evil gains, that they seemed like hungry and rapacious evening wolves which could not leave a bone of their prey till the morning, but must devour it ere the night passed. (Hab_1:8 Jer_5:6 Eze_22:27)
II THE AGGRAVATION AND HEINOUSNESS OF HER SINS.
1. Against Divine grace. She had been guilty of all the foregoing wickednesses, though Jehovah had been in the midst of her. That he chose at the first to establish his presence in her was a favour a special favour; that he remained in her after she had become rebellious, polluted, and oppressive, was more than a special favour was an exceeding great mercy.
2. Against Divine example. In all Jehovah"s dealings with her he had shown himself "righteous," even proved that he would not and could not do iniquity; nevertheless, she had not followed in Jehovah"s steps, but had turned aside into crooked paths and unclean ways.
3. Against Divine instruction. Jehovah had brought his judgment to light every morning by causing his Law to be proclaimed to the nation daily by the prophets. Yet she had rebelled against the light and done the works of darkness.
4. Against Divine warnings. She had seen Jehovah cutting off the nations around, throwing down their battlements, and rendering them desolate, "making their streets waste," etc. (ver. 6); and still she had closed her ears against the warnings these providential judgments gave.
5. Against Divine expectation. Jehovah had hoped she would fear him and receive the instruction and correction he had intended for her; but she had not done so. Rather she had risen early and corrupted herself, thereby proving herself one of the unjust who know no shame.
III THE RECOMPENSE AND REWARD OF HER SINS.
1. A severe penalty. Woe; and the cutting off of her dwelling. Unless she repented and turned from her evil ways, she would be overwhelmed with the righteous indignation of God, and her place as a nation wiped out an impressive symbol of the doom threatened against unbelieving and unrepentant sinners under the gospel.
2. A contingent penalty. If she feared Jehovah and accepted correction, her dwelling should not be cut off, and the vials of woe should not he outpoured upon her. (Jer_18:7) So are God"s threatenings against sinners contingent on their continued impenitence. But this presupposed, it becomes:
3. A certain penalty. Nothing could avert the woe and the cutting off in Jerusalem"s case but repentance and reformation, neither of which she showed; and so when within less than a century it became apparent that there was no remedy, the sluice gates of wrath were opened, and she was cut off without compassion. (2Ch_36:16, 2Ch_36:17) So will it be with those under the gospel, who, being often reproved, vet harden their necks they shall he utterly destroyed, and that without remedy. (Pro_29:1)
Learn:
1. The danger of sin.
2. The certainty of judgment. T.W.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-5. A religious city terribly degenerate.
"Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God," etc. "To give still greater emphasis to his exhortation to repentance, the prophet turns to Jerusalem again, that he may once more hold up before the hardened sinners the abominations of this city in which Jehovah daily proclaims his right, and shows the necessity for the judgment, as the only way that is left by which to secure salvation for Israel and for the whole world" (Keil). We have two things here to look at.
I A PROFESSEDLY RELIGIOUS CITY TERRIBLY DEGENERATED. Jerusalem is distinguished not so much for the beauty of its architecture, the extent of its population, the measure of its trade and resources, as by its being religious. There the one temple stood; there the worship, with its imposing ritual, was daily performed; there the priests lived and God was specially manifested. But how morally degenerate it became I She is here represented as "filthy," "polluted" and "oppressing." "She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God." In this degeneracy all classes of the community seamed to be involved.
1. The "princes" are mentioned. "Her princes within her are the roaring lions." Like rapacious beasts, they preyed on all about them, they lived on people, they devoured their property. As a rule, "princes" have too often lived upon the people; they are devourers of their means; they consume everything, and produce nothing.
2. The "judges" are mentioned. "Her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones, till, the morrow." Or, as Henderson renders it, "they gnaw no bones till the morning." So insatiable are they, that they leave not a single bone till the morning, of the prey that they have caught in the evening.
3. The "prophets" are mentioned. These "prophets are light and treacherous persons." In their life and teaching there was no truth, gravity, or steadfastness. They were "treacherous," false to man, and false to God. (Jer_23:32 Eze_22:28)
4. The "priests" are mentioned. These "polluted the sanctuary" by desecrating the sacred place, and outraged the "Law" by distorting its meaning and misrepresenting its genius and aim. Like Hophni and Phinehas, their wicked lives made the sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred. Such was the degenerate condition into which this holy city is represented as having fallen. How many modern cities today, which call themselves Christian, have sunk into a similar degeneracy! London, Paris, Rome, St. Petersburg, etc., are all highly religious in profession, and have religious means in abundance. What is the moral conditions not only of their masses, but of their "princes," their "judges," their "prophets," and their "priests"?
Ah me! under the cover of religion there rolls the sea of putrescent depravity. Morally, how much better is London than Bombay, Pekin, or Jeddo?
II A PROFESSEDLY RELIGIOUS CITY TERRIBLY DEGENERATED, ALTHOUGH GOD WAS SPECIALLY WORKING IN ITS MIDST. "The just Lord is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame." In every city, and amongst every people, the just Lord, the righteous Jehovah, is and works works by the operations of material nature, by the events of human life, by the suggestions of human reason, and the dictates of human conscience. But in Jerusalem he was in a more especial sense, and he wrought in special ways. The temple was his dwelling place, and the gleaming Shechinah was the symbol of his presence; and specially did he reveal himself to some of its noblest men. And yet, notwithstanding all, Jerusalem sank; with God amongst them working to raise them, they fell lower and lower. What does this teach?
1. The wonderful freedom which the Almighty allows to wicked men on the earth. Though he strives to improve them, he does not coerce them. He makes no invasion of their moral agency.
2. The tremendous force of human depravity. What a power sin gains over man! It binds him in chains often stronger than adamant. It loads him with a weight which he cannot shake off, but which sinks him deeper and deeper into the abysses of wickedness.
CONCLUSION.
1. Do not hinder Christian propagandism from entering a city because it is nominally Christian. The gospel is wanted there, perhaps, more than anywhere else, more even than in pagan populations.
2. Do not expect that the world will be morally renovated by miraculous agency. Almighty Goodness does not coerce. There is no way by which mere force can travel to a man"s soul. D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to…
Zep_3:1-5
Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
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A religious city terribly degenerate
I.
A professedly religious city terribly degenerated.
1. The princes are mentioned. They are roaring lions.
2. The judges are mentioned. They are evening wolves.
3. The prophets are mentioned. They are light and treacherous persons.
4. The priests are mentioned.
These polluted the sanctuary, by desecrating the sacred, and outraged the law, by distorting its meaning and misrepresenting its genius and aim.
II. A professedly religious city terribly degenerated although God was specially working in its midst. The just Lord is in the midst thereof; He will not do iniquity: every morning doth He bring His judgment to light, He faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
1. The wonderful freedom which the Almighty allows to wicked men on this earth. Though He strives to improve them, He does not coerce them. He makes no invasion of their moral agency.
2. The tremendous force of human depravity. What a power sin gains over man!
(1) Do not hinder Christian propagandism from entering a city because it is nominally Christian. The Gospel is wanted there perhaps more than anywhere else.
(2) Do not expect that the world will be morally renovated by miraculous agency. Almighty Goodness does not coerce. There is no way by which mere force can travel to a mans soul. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Zephaniah 3
SO AS BY FIRE
Zephaniah 3
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THE third chapter of the Book of Zephaniah consists of two sections, of which only the first, Zep_3:1-13, is a genuine work of the prophet; while the second, Zep_3:14-20, is a later epilogue such as we found added to the genuine prophecies of Amos. It is written in the large hope and brilliant temper of the Second Isaiah, saying no word of Judahs sin or judgment, but predicting her triumphant deliverance out of all her afflictions.
In a second address to his city (Zep_3:1-13) Zephaniah strikes the same notes as he did in his first. He spares the king, but denounces the ruling and teaching classes. Jerusalems princes are lions, her judges wolves, her prophets braggarts, her priests pervert the law, her wicked have no shame. He repeats the proclamation of a universal doom. But the time is perhaps later. Judah has disregarded the many threats. She will not accept the Lords discipline; and while in Zephaniah 1-Zephaniah 2:3 Zephaniah had said that the meek and righteous might escape the doom, he now emphatically affirms that all proud and impenitent men shall be removed from Jerusalem, and a humble people be left to her, righteous and secure. There is the same moral earnestness as before, the same absence of all other elements of prophecy than the ethical. Before we ask the reason and emphasize the beauty of this austere gospel, let us see the exact words of the address. There are the usual marks of poetic diction in it-elliptic phrases, the frequent absence of the definite article, archaic forms, and an order of the syntax different from that which obtains in prose. But the measure is difficult to determine, and must be printed as prose. The echo of the elegiac rhythm in the opening is more apparent than real: it is not sustained beyond the first verse. Zep_3:9 and Zep_3:10 are relegated to a footnote, as very probably an intrusion, and disturbance of the argument.
"Woe, rebel and unclean, city of oppression! She listens to no voice, she accepts no discipline, in Jehovah she trusts not, nor has drawn near to her God.
Her princes in her midst are roaring lions; her judges evening wolves, they not till morning; her prophets are braggarts and traitors; her priests have profaned what is holy and done violence to the Law. Jehovah is righteous in the midst of her, He does no wrong. Morning by morning He brings His judgment to light: He does not let Himself fail-but the wicked man knows no shame. I have cut off nations, their turrets are ruined; I have laid waste their broad streets, till no one passes upon them; destroyed are their cities, without a man, without a dweller. I said, Surely she will fear Me, she will accept punishment, and all that I have visited upon her shall never vanish from her eyes. But only the more zealously have they corrupted all their doings.
Wherefore wait ye for Me-oracle of Jehovah-wait for the day of My rising to testify, for tis My fixed purpose to sweep nations together, to collect kingdoms, to pour upon them all the heat of My wrath-yea, with the fire of My jealousy shall the whole earth be consumed."
"In that day thou shalt not be ashamed of all thy deeds, by which thou hast rebelled against Me: for then will I turn out of the midst of thee all who exult with that arrogance of thine, Jill and thou wilt not again vaunt thyself upon the Mount of My Holiness. But I will leave in thy midst a people humble and poor, and they shall trust in the name of Jehovah. The Remnant of Israel shall do no evil, and shall not speak falsehood, and no fraud shall be found in their mouth, but they shall pasture and they shall couch, with none to make them afraid."
Such is the simple and austere gospel of Zephaniah. It is not to be overlooked amid the lavish and gorgeous promises which other prophets have poured around it, and by ourselves, too, it is needed in our often unscrupulous enjoyment of the riches of grace that are in Christ Jesus. A thorough purgation, the removal of the wicked, the sparing of the honest and the meek; insistence only upon the rudiments of morality and religion; faith in its simplest form of trust in a righteous God, and character in its basal elements of meekness and truth, -these and these alone survive the judgment. Why does Zephaniah never talk of the Love of God, of the-Divine Patience, of the Grace that has spared and will spare wicked hearts if only it can touch them to penitence? Why has he no call to repent, no appeal to the wicked to turn from the evil of their ways? We have already seen part of the answer. Zephaniah stands too near to judgment and the last things. Character is fixed, the time for pleading is past; there remains only the separation of bad men from the good. It is the same standpoint (at least ethically) as that of Christs visions of the Judgment. Perhaps also an austere gospel was required by the fashionable temper of the day. The generation was loud and arrogant; it gilded the future to excess, and knew no shame. The true prophet was forced to reticence; he must make his age feel the desperate earnestness of life, and that salvation is by fire. For the gorgeous future of its unsanctified hopes he must give it this severe, almost mean, picture of a poor and humble folk, hardly saved but at last at peace.
The permanent value of such a message is proved by the thirst which we feel even today for the clear, cold water of its simple promises. Where a glaring optimism prevails, and the future is preached with a loud assurance, where many find their only religious enthusiasm in the resurrection of mediaeval ritual or the singing of stirring and gorgeous hymns of secondhand imagery, how needful to be recalled to the earnestness and severity of life, to the simplicity of the conditions of salvation, and to their ethical, not emotional, character! Where sensationalism has so invaded religion, how good to hear the sober insistence upon Gods daily commonplaces-"morning by morning He bringeth forth His judgment to light"-and to know that the acceptance of discipline is what prevails with Him. Where national reform is vaunted and the progress of education, how well to go back to a prophet who ignored all the great reforms of his day that he might impress his people with the indispensableness of humility and faith. Where Churches have such large ambitions for themselves, how necessary to hear that the future is destined for "a poor folk," the meek and the honest. Where men boast that their religion-Bible, Creed, or Church-has undertaken to save them, "vaunting themselves on the Mount of My Holiness," how needful to hear salvation placed upon character and a very simple trust in God.
But, on the other hand, is any one in despair at the darkness and cruelty of this life, let him hear how Zephaniah proclaims that, though all else be fraud, "the Lord is righteous in the midst" of us. "He doth not let Himself fail," that the resigned heart and the humble, the just, and the pure heart, is imperishable, and in the end there is at least peace.
EPILOGUE
Zep_3:14-20
Zephaniahs prophecy was fulfilled. The Day of the Lord came, and the people met their judgment. The Remnant survived-"a folk poor and humble." To them, in the new estate and temper of their life, came a new song from God-perhaps it was nearly a hundred years after Zephaniah had spoken-and they added it to his prophecies. It came in with wonderful fitness, for it was the song of the redeemed, whom he had foreseen, and it tuned his book, severe and simple, to the full harmony of prophecy, so that his book might take a place in the great choir of Israel-the diapason of that full salvation which no one man, but only the experience of centuries, could achieve.
"Sing out, O daughter of Zion! shout aloud, O Israel! Rejoice and be jubilant with all thy heart, daughter of Jerusalem! Jehovah hath set aside thy judgments, He hath turned thy foes. King of Israel, Jehovah is in thy midst; thou shalt not see evil any more. "In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear not, O Zion, let not thy hands droop! Jehovah, thy God, in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy, He will make new His love, He will exult over thee with singing.
"The scattered of thy congregation have I gathered-thine are they reproach upon her. Behold, I am about to do all for thy sake at that time, and I will rescue the lame and the outcast will I bring in, {Mic_4:6} and I will make them for renown and fame whose shame is in the whole earth. In that time I will bring you in, even in the time that I gather you. For I will set you for fame and renown among, all the peoples of the earth, when I turn again your captivity before your eyes, saith Jehovah."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain CRITICAL NOTES.] Woe] to Jerusalem; others, Nineveh. Filthy] From…
CRITICAL NOTES.] Woe] to Jerusalem; others, Nineveh. Filthy] From a word, to straighten oneself; hence, to rebel, to be refractory.
Zep_3:2. Voice] In law and prophets. Correction] Instruction with manifold chastisements.
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Zep_3:3. Princes] aggravated the evil (cf. Micah 3). Lions] tearing the poor (Pro_28:15; Eze_19:2 : Nah_2:12). Wolves] (cf. Hab_1:8): voracious and insatiable, who devour all in the night.
Zep_3:4. Prophets] Light and vainglorious; from a word, to boil over; frivolous in words; brag (Jer_23:32). Priests] desecrate the temple and distort the law; make everything common (Eze_22:26).
HOMILETICS
THE GUILTY CITY.—Zep_3:1-4
After threatenings denounced against other nations, God speaks to the Church, denounces Jerusalem for the iniquities done by her. Former means were used in vain. Now the last sentence is uttered. A sinful state will bring a woeful doom.
I. Its inhabitants were ungodly. Its citizens were chosen of God to be “a holy people, zealous of good works;” but they were stained with corruption and vice.
1. They were deaf to warning. “She obeyed not the voice” of God in his law and prophets. Remonstrance and appeal were in vain; wise counsel and wholesome reproof were set at nought. “They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.”
2. They refused correction. “She received not correction.” She was neither disciplined by her own, nor the sufferings of others. Humbled by force and not in spirit, men kick and rebel; like an untractable child under the rod, they increase their own chastisement. “Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way.”
3. They hardened themselves in wickedness. Obstinate in sin, they were given up to filthiness and infamy.
(1) They were rebellious. “Woe to her that is refractory (filthy).”
(2) They were defiled. “Polluted” within, notwithstanding ceremonial purity without.
(3) They were oppressive. “The oppressing city.” Rebellion begets inward defilement before God, and cruelty to man. Hence—
(4) They provoked God to anger. “Woe to her!” The infinite patience of God may be exhausted, and he may become weary in correcting for sin. “Why should ye be stricken any more?” (Isa_1:5).
II. Its rulers were unjust. The leaders, civil and religious, who should have been a protection and a praise, were cruel and ferocious.
1. The princes were cruel. “Her princes within her are roaring lions.” Terrifying inferiors and devouring the poor who had no helper.
2. The judges were corrupt. “Her judges are evening wolves.” Instead of defending the innocent and redressing the wrong, they were most greedy and rapacious. They were no check to the insolence and rapacity of the nobles; but like wild beasts driven by famine, they left not a bone of their evening prey for the hunger of the morning. “They gnaw not the bones till the morrow.”
3. The prophets were unfaithful. “Her prophets were light and treacherous persons.”
(1) In their words they were light and frivolous, without truth and stability in their teaching. Insolent speech and empty boasting characterized their ministry.
(2) In their life they were treacherous and inconsistent. They evinced not that gravity and humility which become the messengers of God; trifled with most serious subjects; declared their own thoughts to be the truth of God, and apostatized from him to whom they should have witnessed.
3. The priests were polluted. “Her priests have polluted the sanctuary.”
(1) They committed sacrilege; polluted the temple and its services. They encouraged others, in a bold and carnal spirit, to profane that which was holy, and turn to their own use that which should be consecrated to God.
(2) They violated law. “They have done violence to the law.” They openly strained or secretly wrested it in forms of violence. By craft and gloss they perverted its function, and became a type of all who transgress the commandment of God and make it of none effect by their traditions (Mat_15:6; Mat_23:23). Thus were all classes of society, high and low, accused of guilt and exposed to judgment. Mere power and outward sanctity will never save a people. They must be under the fear of God, accept his correction, or they will be denounced with woe.
KEEPING FROM GOD.—Zep_3:3
God is the source of our happiness, the satisfaction of our hearts, and the end of our being. What, then, the condition of those who draw not near to God? These words may be said concerning—
I. The wicked generally. Sin separates from God, creates enmity against him. The wicked, through the pride of their countenance, will not seek God. God is not in their thoughts nor supreme in their life. They stand at a distance, will not approach God; but say, Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
II. Some afflicted people. Jerusalem was heavily afflicted, but stubborn. The end of affliction is not answered in the case of many. Like Asa, they ask counsel of physicians and not God. They murmur, repine, and rebel against him. They draw not near to God in his providential dealings with them. “It lightens the stroke,” said one, “to draw near to him who handles the rod.” “I would run into the arms of Christ, if he stood with a drawn sword in his hand,” said Luther. “It is good for me to draw near to God.”
III. Some professing Christians. Instead of walking with God, they live afar off. The sanctuary and the prayer-meeting are forsaken, the Bible neglected, and the back is turned from God. In a letter to Matthew Henry, his mother says, “I write a line or two to remind you to keep in with God by solemn, secret daily prayer.”
“The soul in audience with its God is heaven.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Zep_3:1-2. Corruption.
1. Its nature. “Towards God, in herself, towards man, she is wholly turned to evil, not in passing acts but in her abiding state. She is known only by what she has become, and what has been done for her in vain. She is rebellious, and so had had the law; defiled, and so had been cleansed; and therefore her state is the more hopeless” [Pusey].
2. Its source. Contempt of the word. Law and punishment, invitation and promise, failed. “She obeyed not the voice.”
3. Its manifestation. Unbelief in threatenings and promises leads to settled hatred. “If a man despise the word of God, then the next thing is that he refuses all amendment, because he is well pleased with himself, and imagines everything which is in him good. And this is the climax of perversion of the life from God” [Lange].
4. Its consequence. “She drew not near to her God.” No change effected in life and heart. Distance from God not merely as a natural fact, but as a penal consequence. Drew not nigh in repentance, faith, and love; stood away until too late to come. “The way of destruction begins with obstinacy against God,” says one; “then comes pollution by vice; finally, the destruction of conscience, which becomes manifest in open acts of violence and crime.” The fourfold sin. Disobedience, obstinacy, atheism, and final impenitence. Take heed lest any of you “be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
Zep_3:4. Pollution.
1. in the persons;
2. in the things. The priests were polluted themselves, and “made the sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred.” “Polluted her sanctuary, lit. holiness, and so holy rites, persons (Ezr_8:28), things, places (as the sanctuary), sacrifices. All these they polluted, being themselves polluted—first themselves then the holy things which they handled, handling them as they ought not; carelessly and irreverently, not as ordained by God; turning them to their own use and self-indulgence” [Pusey]. “Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean” (Eze_22:26; Mal_2:8).
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Zep_3:1. Polluted. Sinful corruption is a poison so subtle, that it pierces into all the powers of the soul; so contagions, that it infects all the actions; so obstinate, that only omnipotent grace can heal it [Dr. Bates].
Zep_3:2. Instruction. The end of learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love and imitate him. “That it may please thee to give to all thy people increase of grace to hear meekly thy word, to receive it with pure affection, and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit” [Litany]. Near to her God. The essence of all wickedness is forsaking God [Nichols].
Zep_3:3. Avarice is insatiable, and is always pushing on for more [L’Estrange].
“Fancy, and pride, seek things at vast expense,
Which relish not to reason, nor to sense.” [Pope.]
Zep_3:4. Treacherous. “There is no love among Christians,” cries the man destitute of true charity. “Zeal has vanished,” exclaims the idle talker. “O for more consistency!” groans out the hypocrite. “We want more vital godliness,” protests the false pretender. As in the old legend, the wolf preached against sheep-stealing, so very many hunt down those sins in others which they gladly shelter in themselves [Spurgeon].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain Those who have ever known that sense of repose…
Zep 3:17
Those who have ever known that sense of repose too deep for words—the thought which feels that, by any expression of itself it would only mar its own intensity—would understand the beauty of the fact, that the sentence which we have translated, "He will rest in His love," is more literally still, "He will be silent in His love." For there is rest beyond language, whose very eloquence it is that it cannot choose but to be silent.
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I. Notice, on what the love of God really lies. It lies, first, on that eternity, in which you may go back for ever, and never find the moment when it began. It lies, secondly, on the vast sacrifice of Christ, and the immensity of the value of the comprehensiveness of the atoning work It lies, thirdly, on the breadth of the atonement. And it lies, fourthly, on all those attributes which go to make its own great name; and which have been gathered by the grace which is in Christ Jesus into the one prerogative of love.
II. There is a law in the material world that, left to itself, all motion will go on to move, and all rest will go on to rest, for ever. It is true a thousand-fold with the character of God. It is, we know, not only a doctrine of our faith, but a matter of personal experience with every one of us, that "having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end"—that wherever love lights, there love rests; and that He will abide in His love.
III. Let our watchword of duty, this year, be one which the most closely copies Him—the "rest" of a fixed heart. When all is mystery, and you cannot see one step, and the mind must not reason and cannot reason, let the soul rest its silent rest. Wherever God has placed you, rest in your lot till He comes. Rest, and by resting learn the rest which is to rest for ever.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 4th series, p. 117.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain The Judgment upon the Evil Rulers of Jerusalem, and…
The Judgment upon the Evil Rulers of Jerusalem, and its ultimate Purification and Restoration
Like Amos and Micah, the prophet sternly denounces the crimes of the ruling classes in Jerusalem, points out their ingratitude to Jehovah, and announces the doom that is inevitable. The gloom of the opening vv. is dispelled, however, by the hopes of restoration which appear to reflect a later age. Zep_3:9-10, Zep_3:14-20 have the exultant ring of Isaiah 40-55.
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1. Her that is filthy and polluted] evidently Jerusalem. The cause is the crimes of her civil and religious leaders. 3. They gnaw not the bones till the morrow] LXX is more in accord with the context and the habits of wolves, 'they leave nothing over till morning.'
6. Towers] i.e. the fortified towers at the corners of the walls.
7. So their dwelling.. punished them] LXX renders, 'And nothing that I have enjoined her will be cut off from her sight.'
9. Pure language] cp. Isa_6:5; Hos_2:16, Hos_2:17. They will no more call upon the names of the heathen gods: cp. Zep_1:5.
10. RM reads, 'From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia shall they bring my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, for an offering unto me.'
14-20. A Messianic hymn, in which not the Messiah but Jehovah Himself is the promised King and Deliverer (Zep_3:17-18).
18b. RM 'which hast borne the burden of reproach.'
19. Her that halteth, and.. was driven out] i.e. the exiled Jewish race: cp. Mic_4:6-7; Jer_33:9; Isa_42:7.
20. When I bring again (RV) your captivity] i.e. when I restore your captives: cp. Psa_53:6; Psa_126:1, Psa_126:2.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Obduracy of the Capital City
The Obduracy of the Capital City
v. 1. Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, stubborn and full of uncleanness, to the oppressing city where violence against the weak and downtrodden was the order of the day.
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v. 2. She obeyed not the voice, paying no attention to the Lord’s admonitions; she received not correction, the instruction or discipline which was intended to be of benefit to her; she trusted not in the Lord, placing no confidence in His exhortations and promises; she drew not near to her God, she has become indifferent to Jehovah.
v. 3. Her princes within her are roaring lions, bent upon rapine and murder; her judges are evening wolves, driven forth by hunger in the evening, their greed being insatiable; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow, their voracious appetite causing them instantly to devour their victims, laying nothing aside for the next day.
v. 4. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons, boastful and faithless knaves; her priests have polluted the Sanctuary, desecrating the Temple by their neglect of the prescribed sacrifices or by their blasphemous manner in offering them; they have done violence to the Law, simply setting aside the precepts of God whose guardians they were supposed to be.
v. 5. The just Lord is in the midst thereof, He, the righteous One, having left nothing untried; He will not do iniquity, He commits no wrong; every morning doth He bring His judgment to light, giving evidence of the justice of all His dealings; He faileth not, no blame, therefore, rests on Him. But the unjust knoweth no shame, the wicked people of Jerusalem are not influenced either by the example of God or by His threat of punishment.
v. 6. I have cut off the nations, also as an act of warning for Israel; their towers are desolate, their walls and fortresses leveled to the ground; I made their streets waste, the roads obliterated, that none passeth by their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant, all this being done, in part at least, to serve as an example of warning to the people of Jerusalem and Judah.
v. 7. I said, Surely thou wilt fear Me, the kindness and tenderness of the warning being emphasized; thou wilt receive instruction, if only thou wouldst suffer thyself to be taught!. So their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them, or, "in accordance with all that I had appointed concerning them"; that is, Jehovah hoped still to have mercy on them, so that He would not have to send the threatened punishment; but they rose early, zealous for their wicked works, and corrupted all their doings, they were eager to speed their perverted actions, their infamous deeds. Thus many a godless person refuses to heed the Lord’s call to repentance and deliberately plunges all the more deeply into transgressions of every kind.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
In verses Zep 3:1-5, Zephaniah speaks Yahweh's message of judgment to the sinful people of Jerusalem. The city represents the people who live within it. To make this clear, it may be helpful to replace the singular "she" and "her" with the plural "they" and "their." (See: Metonymy)
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the rebellious city
The nature of their rebellion can be stated. AT: "the people of the city who have rebelled against God" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
The violent city is defiled
"The people of the city have committed violence and so I consider them unclean"
She has not listened to the voice of God
The voice is a metonym for what the speaker says with the voice, and listening is a metonym for obeying. AT: "She has not obeyed what God has said to her" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
woe
rebel
defile
voice
God
Yahweh
trust
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:1-8 Zephaniah pronounces a message of sorrow for Judah…
3:1-8 Zephaniah pronounces a message of sorrow for Judah and Jerusalem and admonishes them to wait patiently for the results of God’s righteous judgment.
3:1 Polluted Jerusalem had wandered far from its call to be a holy city (Isa 52:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.