5 The righteous Jehovah is in the midst of her: he doeth no wrong. Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light; it faileth not: but the unrighteous knoweth no shame.
Jehovah hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy; the King of Israel, Jehovah, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more.
[He is] the Rock, his work is perfect, For all his ways are righteousness; A ùGod of faithfulness without deceit, Just and right is he.
For Jehovah thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; and thy camp shall be holy, that he see nothing unseemly with thee, and turn away from thee.
Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: Far be wickedness from ùGod, and wrong from the Almighty!
Jehovah is righteous in all his ways, and kind in all his works.
And moreover I saw under the sun, that in the place of judgment, wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
they are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Jehovah thy God is in thy midst, a mighty one that will save: he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will exult over thee with singing.
And if ye invoke as Father him who, without regard of persons, judges according to the work of each, pass your time of sojourn in fear,
So that do not judge anything before [the] time, until the Lord shall come, who shall also both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and shall make manifest the counsels of hearts; and then shall each have [his] praise from God.
but, according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up to thyself wrath, in [the] day of wrath and revelation of [the] righteous judgment of God,
but there is nothing covered up which shall not be revealed, nor secret that shall not be known;
Are they ashamed that they have committed abomination? Nay, they are not at all ashamed, neither know they what it is to blush. Therefore they shall fall among them that fall; at the time that I visit them they shall stumble, saith Jehovah.
Doth ùGod pervert judgment, and the Almighty pervert justice?
Should he that hateth right indeed govern? and wilt thou condemn the All-just? Shall one say to a king, Belial? to nobles, Wicked? [How then to him] that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich man more than the poor? for they are all the work of his hands.
As it passeth through it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night; and it shall be terror only to understand the report.
Jehovah, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be their arm every morning, yea, our salvation in the time of trouble.
Declare and bring [them] near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath caused this to be heard from ancient time? [who] hath declared it long ago? Is it not I, Jehovah? And there is no God else beside me; a just ùGod and a Saviour, there is none besides me.
The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of the instructed, that I should know how to succour by a word him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed.
Far be it from thee to do so, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that the righteous should be as the wicked -- far be it from thee! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?
Are they ashamed that they have committed abomination? Nay, they are not at all ashamed, and they know not how to blush. Therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall stumble, saith Jehovah.
Round about it was eighteen thousand [cubits]; and the name of the city from that day, Jehovah is there.
The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet do they lean upon Jehovah, and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us.
Why dost thou cause me to see iniquity, and lookest thou upon grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Zephaniah 3
Commentary on Zephaniah 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
We now return to Jerusalem, and must again hear what God has to say to her,
Thus the "Redeemer shall come to Zion,' and to clear his own way, shall "turn away ungodliness from Jacob.' These promises were to have their full accomplishment in gospel-times and gospel-graces.
Zep 3:1-7
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.
Zep 3:8-13
Things looked very bad with Jerusalem in the foregoing verses; she has got into a very bad name, and seems to be incorrigible, incurable, mercy-proof and judgment-proof. Now one would think it should follow, Therefore expect no other but that she should be utterly abandoned and rejected as reprobate silver; since they will not be wrought upon by prophets or providences, let them be made a desolation as their neighbours have been. But behold and wonder at the riches of divine grace, which takes occasion from man's badness to appear so much the more illustrious. They still grew worse and worse, therefore wait you upon me, saith the Lord, v. 8. "Since the law, it seems, will make nothing perfect, the bringing in of a better hope shall. Let those that lament the corruptions of the church wait upon God, till he send his Son into the world, to save his people from their sins, till he send his gospel to reform and refine his church, and to purify to himself a peculiar people both of Jews and Gentiles.' And there were those who, according to this direction and encouragement, waited for redemption, for this redemption in Jerusalem; and long-looked-for came at last, Lu. 2:38. For judgment Christ will come into this world, Jn. 9:39.
Zep 3:14-20
After the promises of the taking away of sin, here follow promises of the taking away of trouble; for when the cause is removed the effect will cease. What makes a people holy will make them happy of course. The precious promises here made to the purified people were to have their full accomplishment in the comforts of the gospel, in the hope, and much more in the enjoyment, of which, they are here called upon,
Let us now see what these precious promises are which are here made to the people of God, for the banishing of their griefs and fears and the encouraging of their hopes and joys; and to us are these promises made as well as to them.