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Zephaniah 1:7-13

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD [is] at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. 8. And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD’S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel. 9. In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit. 10. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, [that there shall be] the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills. 11. Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off. 12. And it shall come to pass at that time, [that] I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil. 13. Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit [them]; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.

Zephaniah 1:7-13 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Zephaniah 1:7

Theological / Devotional

Hold thy peace. Silence and awe are in order because fearful judgments will come upon various classes of people (vs. 7-13). Compare Hab. 2:20.

Day of the Lord. Here the prophet is referring to the impending punishment attending the Babylonian invasion (see on Isa. 13:6). Nevertheless, it must be remembered that Zephaniah’s “prophecies of impending judgment upon Judah apply with equal force to the judgments that are to fall upon an impenitent world at the time of the second advent of Christ” (PK 389). For the principles involved in making last-day applications see pp. 34-38.

Sacrifice. A graphic picture, representing the guilty nation of Judah as a slaughtered animal (see Isa. 34:6; Eze. 39:17-20).

Bid his guests. Literally, “consecrated his guests”; that is, the Babylonians are depicted as being set apart, according to God’s purpose, to carry out the punishment of the transgressors (see on Isa. 13:3).

By SdaBc