2 Before the bringing forth of a statute, As chaff hath the day passed on, While yet not come in upon you doth the heat of the anger of Jehovah, While yet not come in upon you doth a day of the anger of Jehovah,
Before His indignation who doth stand? And who riseth up in the heat of His anger? His fury hath been poured out like fire, And the rocks have been broken by Him.
Therefore they are as a cloud of the morning, And as dew, rising early, going away, As chaff tossed about out of a floor, And as smoke out of a window.
Nations as the wasting of many waters are wasted, And He hath pushed against it, And it hath fled afar off, And been pursued as chaff of hills before wind, And as a rolling thing before a hurricane.
Therefore, wait for Me -- an affirmation of Jehovah, For the day of My rising for prey, For My judgment `is' to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour out on them Mine indignation, All the heat of Mine anger, For by the fire of My jealousy consumed is all the earth.
Not so the wicked: But -- as chaff that wind driveth away!
For, lo, the day hath come, burning as a furnace, And all the proud, and every wicked doer, have been stubble, And burnt them hath the day that came, Said Jehovah of Hosts, That there is not left to them root or branch, And risen to you, ye who fear My name, Hath the sun of righteousness -- and healing in its wings, And ye have gone forth, and have increased as calves of a stall.
and saying, `Where is the promise of his presence? for since the fathers did fall asleep, all things so remain from the beginning of the creation;' for this is unobserved by them willingly, that the heavens were of old, and the earth out of water and through water standing together by the word of God, through which the then world, by water having been deluged, was destroyed; and the present heavens and the earth, by the same word are treasured, for fire being kept to a day of judgment and destruction of the impious men. And this one thing let not be unobserved by you, beloved, that one day with the Lord `is' as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; the Lord is not slow in regard to the promise, as certain count slowness, but is long-suffering to us, not counselling any to be lost but all to pass on to reformation, and it will come -- the day of the Lord -- as a thief in the night, in which the heavens with a rushing noise will pass away, and the elements with burning heat be dissolved, and earth and the works in it shall be burnt up.
`Be striving to go in through the straight gate, because many, I say to you, will seek to go in, and shall not be able; from the time the master of the house may have risen up, and may have shut the door, and ye may begin without to stand, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, lord, open to us, and he answering shall say to you, I have not known you whence ye are, then ye may begin to say, We did eat before thee, and did drink, and in our broad places thou didst teach; and he shall say, I say to you, I have not known you whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of the unrighteousness. `There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth, when ye may see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the reign of God, and yourselves being cast out without;
The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Thus said Jehovah, Lo, I am bringing in evil unto this place and on its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah hath read, because that they have forsaken Me, and make perfume to other gods, so as to provoke Me to anger with every work of their hands, and My wrath hath been kindled against this place, and it is not quenched.
For I `am' Jehovah, I speak, The word that I speak -- it is done, It is not prolonged any more, For, in your days, O rebellious house, I speak a word, and I have done it, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'
The anger of Jehovah doth not turn back Till His doing, and till His establishing, The thoughts of His heart, In the latter end of the days ye attend to it With understanding.
Lo, I have set thee for a new sharp threshing instrument, Possessing teeth, thou threshest mountains, And beatest small, and hills as chaff thou makest. Thou winnowest them, and a wind lifteth them up, And a whirlwind scattereth them, And thou -- thou rejoicest in Jehovah, In the Holy One of Israel dost boast thyself.
For He `is' our God, and we the people of His pasture, And the flock of His hand, To-day, if to His voice ye hearken, Harden not your heart as `in' Meribah, As `in' the day of Massah in the wilderness,
Understand this, I pray you, Ye who are forgetting God, Lest I tear, and there is no deliverer.
They are as straw before wind, And as chaff a hurricane hath stolen away,
and they are mocking at the messengers of God, and despising His words, and acting deceitfully with His prophets, till the going up of the fury of Jehovah against His people -- till there is no healing. And He causeth to go up against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slayeth their chosen ones by the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and hath had no pity on young man and virgin, old man and very aged -- the whole He hath given into his hand.
Only, Jehovah hath not turned back from the fierceness of His great anger with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh provoked him, and Jehovah saith, `Also Judah I turn aside from my presence, as I turned Israel aside, and I have rejected this city that I have chosen -- Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name is there.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Zephaniah 2
Commentary on Zephaniah 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
In this chapter we have,
All these shall drink of the same cup of trembling that is put into the hands of God's people, as was also foretold by other prophets before and after.
Zep 2:1-3
Here we see what the prophet meant in that terrible description of the approaching judgments which we had in the foregoing chapter. From first to last his design was, not to drive the people to despair, but to drive them to God and to their duty-not to frighten them out of their wits, but to frighten them out of their sins. In pursuance of that he here calls them to repentance, national repentance, as the only way to prevent national ruin. Observe,
Zep 2:4-7
The prophet here comes to foretel what share the neighbouring nations should have in the destruction made upon those parts of the world by Nebuchadnezzar and his victorious Chaldees, as others of the prophets did at that time, which is designed,
In these verses we have the doom of the Philistines, who were near neighbours, and old enemies, to the people of Israel. Five lordships there were in that country; only four are here named-Gaza and Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron; Gath, the fifth, is not named, some think because it was now subject to Judah. They were the inhabitants of the sea-coasts (v. 5), for their country lay upon the Great Sea. The nation of the Cherethites is here joined with them, which bordered upon them (1 Sa. 30:14) and fell with them, as is foretold also, Eze. 25:16. The Philistines' land is here called Canaan, for it belonged to that country which God gave to his people Israel, and was inserted in the grant made to them, Jos. 13:3. This land is yet to be possessed (five lords of the Philistines), so that they wrongfully kept Israel out of the possession of it (Jdg. 3:3), which is now remembered against them. For, though the rights of others may be long detained unjustly, the righteous God will at length avenge the wrong.
Zep 2:8-11
The Moabites and Ammonites were both of the posterity of Lot; their countries joined, and, both adjoining to Israel, they are here put together in the prophecy against them.
Zep 2:12-15
The cup is going round, when Nebuchadnezzar is going on conquering and to conquer; and not only Israel's near neighbours, but those that lay more remote, must be reckoned with for the wrongs they have done to God's people; the Ethiopians and the Assyrians are here taken to task.