14 Near `is' the great day of Jehovah, Near, and hasting exceedingly, The noise of the day of Jehovah, Bitterly shriek there doth a mighty one.
Hush! because of the Lord Jehovah, For near `is' a day of Jehovah, For prepared hath Jehovah a sacrifice, He hath sanctified His invited ones.
And Jehovah hath given forth His voice before His force, For very great `is' His camp, For mighty `is' the doer of His word, For great `is' the day of Jehovah -- very fearful, And who doth bear it?
Lo, I am sending to you Elijah the prophet, Before the coming of the day of Jehovah, The great and the fearful.
For near `is' a day, near `is' a day to Jehovah! A day of clouds, the time of nations it is.
Lo, `Their Ariel,' they have cried without, Messengers of peace do weep bitterly.
the sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the day of the Lord -- the great and illustrious;
and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich, and the chiefs of thousands, and the mighty, and every servant, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains, and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, `Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of Him who is sitting upon the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb,' because come did the great day of His anger, and who is able to stand?
and in covetousness, with moulded words, of you they shall make merchandise, whose judgment of old is not idle, and their destruction doth not slumber.
murmur not against one another, brethren, that ye may not be condemned; lo, the Judge before the door hath stood.
because the Lord himself, in a shout, in the voice of a chief-messenger, and in the trump of God, shall come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first,
let your forbearance be known to all men; the Lord `is' near;
And there hath been in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah, The noise of a cry from the fish-gate, And of a howling from the Second, And of great destruction from the hills.
And He saith, `What art thou seeing, Amos?' and I say, `A basket of summer-fruit.' And Jehovah saith unto me: `The end hath come unto My people Israel, I do not add any more to pass over to it.
The sun is turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, Before the coming of the day of Jehovah, The great and the fearful.
Blow ye a trumpet in Zion, And shout ye in My holy hill, Tremble do all inhabitants of the earth, For coming is the day of Jehovah, for `it is' near!
therefore say unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: I have caused this simile to cease, And they use it not as a simile again in Israel, But speak to them: Drawn near have the days, And spoken hath every vision.
An end hath come, come hath the end, It hath waked for thee, lo, it hath come. Come hath the morning unto thee, O inhabitant of the land! Come hath the time, near `is' a day of trouble, And not the shouting of mountains.
A voice `is' of the cry of the shepherds, And a howling of the honourable of the flock, For Jehovah is spoiling their pasture.
A voice of noise `is' from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of Jehovah, giving recompence to His enemies.
Therefore I said, `Look ye from me, I am bitter in my weeping, Haste not to comfort me, For the destruction of the daughter of my people.' For a day of noise, and of treading down, And of perplexity, `is' to the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, In the valley of vision, digging down a wall, And crying unto the mountain.
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.