Zephaniah 1:18
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Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the LORD’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He will make a sudden end of all who dwell on the earth.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Judgment upon All the World, and upon Judah in Particular - Zephaniah 1 The judgment will come upon all the world (Zep 1:2, Zep 1:3), and will destroy all the idolaters and despisers of God in Judah and Jerusalem (Zep 1:4-7), and fall heavily upon sinners of every rank (Zep 1:8-13). The terrible day of the Lord will burst irresistibly upon all the inhabitants of the earth (Zep 1:14-18).
Open source ↗After the title of the book (Zep 1:1) here is, I. A threatening of the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, an utter destruction, by the Chaldeans (Zep 1:2-4). II. A charge against them for their gross sin, which provoked God to bring that destruction upon them (Zep 1:5, Zep 1:6); and so he goes on in the rest of the chapter, setting both the judgments before them, that they might prevent them or prepare for them, and the sins that destroy them, that they might judge themselves, and justify God in what was brought upon them. 1. They must hold their peace because they had greatly sinned (Zep 1:7-9). But, 2, They shall howl because the trouble will be great. The day of the Lord is near, and it will be a terrible day (Zep 1:10-18). 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.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “until the day I rise to testify. For My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them My indignation— all My burning anger. For all the earth will be consumed by the fire of My jealousy.
They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs with wealth, for it became the stumbling block that brought their iniquity.
Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.
That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,
“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
Wail, O dwellers of the Hollow, for all your merchants will be silenced; all who weigh out silver will be cut off.
What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
A rich man’s wealth is his fortified city; it is like a high wall in his imagination.
And I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and those who shed blood; so I will bring upon you the wrath of your bloodshed and jealousy.
They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.