7 Be silent at the presence of the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jehovah is at hand; for Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath hallowed his guests.
The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly. The voice of the day of Jehovah: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
But Jehovah is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him!
For this is the day of the Lord Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may be avenged of his adversaries; and the sword shall devour, and it shall be sated and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord Jehovah of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country, by the river Euphrates.
The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
Let all flesh be silent before Jehovah; for he is risen up out of his holy habitation.
Howl, for the day of Jehovah is at hand; it cometh as destruction from the Almighty.
For there shall be a day of Jehovah of hosts upon everything proud and lofty, and upon everything lifted up, and it shall be brought low;
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, Come, gather yourselves to the great supper of God, that ye may eat flesh of kings, and flesh of chiliarchs, and flesh of strong men, and flesh of horses and of those that sit upon them, and flesh of all, both free and bond, and small and great.
But the day of [the] Lord will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and [the] elements, burning with heat, shall be dissolved, and [the] earth and the works in it shall be burnt up. All these things then being to be dissolved, what ought ye to be in holy conversation and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, by reason of which [the] heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and [the] elements, burning with heat, shall melt?
Let your gentleness be known of all men. The Lord [is] near.
Aye, but thou, O man, who art *thou* that answerest again to God? Shall the thing formed say to him that has formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
And he said to him, A certain man made a great supper and invited many. And he sent his bondman at the hour of supper to say to those who were invited, Come, for already all things are ready.
He keepeth the feet of his saints, but the wicked are silenced in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. They that strive with Jehovah shall be broken to pieces; in the heavens will he thunder upon them. Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth; and he will give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.
And a man's uncle, and he that should burn him, shall take him up to bring out the bones from the house, and shall say unto him that is in the inner parts of the house, Is there yet [any] with thee? and he shall say, None. And he will say, Silence! for we may not make mention of Jehovah's name.
Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! To what end is the day of Jehovah for you? It shall be darkness and not light: as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
And Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for strong is he that executeth his word: for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can bear it?
Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is at hand; a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and gross darkness, as the dawn spread upon the mountains; -- a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after them, to the years of generations and generations.
And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Speak unto the birds of every wing, and to every beast of the field, Gather yourselves together and come, assemble yourselves on every side to my sacrifice which I sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, [and] of bullocks, all of them fatted beasts of Bashan. And ye shall eat fat till ye are full, and drink blood till ye are drunken, of my sacrifice which I sacrifice for you. And ye shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord Jehovah.
Behold the day, behold, it is come: the doom is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride is full blown.
The doom is come unto thee, inhabitant of the land; the time is come, the day is near, -- tumult, and not the joyous cry from the mountains.
Wisdom hath built her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars; she hath slaughtered her cattle, she hath mingled her wine, she hath also prepared her table; she hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the summits of the high places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. To him that is void of understanding, she saith, Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine that I have mingled. Forsake follies and live, and go in the way of intelligence.
Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from the heavens; the earth feared, and was still, When God rose up to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.
Behold, I am nought: what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, and I will not answer; yea twice, but I will proceed no further.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Zephaniah 1
Commentary on Zephaniah 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Prophecy of Zephaniah
Chapter 1
After the title of the book (v. 1) here is,
Such fair and timely warning as this did God give to the Jews of the approaching captivity; but they hardened their neck, which made their destruction remediless.
Zep 1:1-6
Here is,
Zep 1:7-13
Notice is here given to Judah and Jerusalem that God is coming forth against them, and will be with them shortly; his presence, as a just avenger, his day, the day of his judgment and his wrath, are not far off, v. 7. Those that improve not the presence of God with them as a Father, but sin away that presence, may expect his presence with them as a Judge, to call them to an account for the contempt put upon his grace. The day of the Lord will come. Men have their day now, when they take a liberty to do what they please; but God's day is at hand; it is here called his sacrifice, a sacrifice of his preparing, for the punishing of presumptuous sinners is a sacrifice to the justice of God, some reparation to his injured honour. Those that brought their offerings to other gods were themselves justly made victims to the true God. On a day of sacrifice great slaughter was made; so shall there be in Jerusalem; men shall be killed up as fast as lambs for the altar, with as little regret, with as much pleasure: The slain of the Lord shall be many. On a day of sacrifice great feasts were made upon the sacrifices; so the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem shall be feasted upon by their enemies the Chaldeans; these are the guests God has prepared and invited to come and glut themselves-their revenge with slaughter and their covetousness with plunder. Now observe,
Zep 1:14-18
Nothing could be expressed with more spirit and life, nor in words more proper to startle and awaken a secure and careless people, than the warning here given to Judah and Jerusalem of the approaching destruction by the Chaldeans. That is enough to make the sinners in Zion tremble-that it is the day of the Lord, the day in which he will manifest himself by taking vengeance on them. It is the great day of the Lord, a specimen of the day of judgment, a kind of doom's-day, as the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans is represented to be in our Saviour's prediction concerning it, Mt. 24:27.