The word of the Lord that was with Zephaniah, son of Kushi, son of Gedalya, son of Amarya, son of Hizkiya. This is an unusually extensive lineage, which is recorded either due to the greatness of all those named, or to trace the prophet’s line back to Hizkiya. It is evident from these names that Zephaniah was from a distinguished family of Judean leaders. According to the Talmud, Zephaniah is one of the “eight princes among men” mentioned in the book of Micah (5:4). Zephaniah prophesied in the days of Yoshiyahu son of Amon, king of Judah. The period of Zephaniah’s prophecy would indicate the places where he was likely active, as by Yoshiya’s time the Kingdom of Israel had already been conquered by the Assyrians and most of its inhabitants exiled. While it is possible that Yoshiya sought to reestablish some sort of political entity within the borders of the former Kingdom of Israel, nevertheless, Zephaniah primarily addresses the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

I will destroy everything from upon the face of the earth – the utterance of the Lord.

I will destroy man and animal, I will destroy the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks of the wicked, those that cause the wicked to sin; I will eliminate man from upon the face of the earth; this is the utterance of the Lord. The kingdom will not merely collapse or be vanquished but will be utterly destroyed.

And I will extend My hand over Judah and over all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the great city at the center of the Kingdom of Judah; and I will eliminate from this place the remnant of the Baal. The cult of the Baal was practiced in Jerusalem during the days of Amon and earlier; it was fully removed only over the course of Yoshiya’s reign. And I will also destroy the name of the novice priests [kemarim] with the priests [kohanim] of the Baal. The difference between these titles is unclear; perhaps the kemarim had a lower status than that of the kohanim.

And I will destroy not only the central cult of the Baal, but also those who prostrate themselves, worship, on the rooftops to the host of heaven, the constellations, and those who prostrate themselves, who take oaths to the Lord, and those who take oaths by their king. This is referring to a different group of people, who profess a dual loyalty by swearing both by God and their king or their idol;

and those who withdraw from following the Lord, who were once close to God but have since distanced themselves from worship of Him; and those who did not seek the Lord, and did not ever search for Him. This list includes all those who worshipped idols, as well as people who are not fully committed to the service of God.

Be silent in fear before the Lord God, as the day of the judgment of the Lord is near. For the Lord has prepared a feast, actually, a slaughter, a destruction, and He has invited His guests. Both the slaughterers and their victims have been summoned to the event.

It shall be on the day of the Lord’s slaughter, I will reckon with the princes, and with the king’s sons, not necessarily Yoshiya’s own sons, but members of the royal household, all descendants of one king or another. And all who wear foreign garments. Apparently, the tendency to absorb foreign influences was more pronounced among the upper classes, as is often the case. These individuals were not entirely assimilated, but they dressed as gentiles out of a desire to emphasize their ties to other nations.

In addition to the above, I will reckon on that day with all those that practice the Philistine rite to leap over the threshold.Among the nobility of Judah and Jerusalem, those who fill the house of their masters with money gained through villainy and deceit will also be punished.

It shall be on that day – the utterance of the Lord – that there will be heard a sound of an outcry in Jerusalem from the Gate of Fish, one of the gates of Jerusalem, and a wail from the second quarter,or the residences that were added to the city, and the sound of a great calamity from the hills surrounding Jerusalem.

Wail, inhabitants of the crater, a low area near Jerusalem. Some identify it as the Kidron Valley, while others identify it as the valley west of the City of David known as the Tyropoeon Valley. For all the people of Canaan are destroyed. This is a euphemistic reference to the people of Israel, who displaced the ancient Canaanites. All those who were laden with silver were eliminated. This might be a disparaging name for the wealthy, similar to the English term “loaded.”

It shall be at that time, that not only will I punish people for sins committed publicly, but I will search Jerusalem with lamps, to discern the smallest, most private iniquities; and I will reckon with the men who are settled on their dregs, the apathetic, who do nothing, like wine settled on its lees, who say in their heart: The Lord will not do good and He will not do harm. These people do not willfully transgress, but neither do they act with the specific intention of fulfilling God’s commands. They are indifferent toward God and take no notice of Him whatsoever.

Their riches will be for plunder and their houses will be for desolation; they will build houses, but they will not live in them, as they will be exiled or killed; they will plant vineyards, but they will not drink their wine. Death and exile from their land will destroy the people’s plans for all future enterprises as well. Similar curses appear elsewhere in the Bible.

The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and hastens greatly; it is the sound of the day of the Lord, the valiant one cries out there bitterly. The judgment of that day will be so harsh that even mighty warriors will wail in shock.

That day is a day of ire, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation [shoa umshoa]. The use of alliteration here adds to the words’ effect. It will be a day of darkness and blackness, a day of cloud and fog, confusion, death, and great darkness of more than one type;

a day of trumpeting and alarm, sounds of warning and of the enemies’ attack against the fortified cities and against the high, fortified, towers.

I will distress the people and they will walk like the blind. They will wander aimlessly, unsure of the best way to flee, because they sinned against the Lord; their blood will be spilled like dust, scattered on the ground and trampled upon by all, and their flesh will be spread out like dung.

Even their silver and their gold will be unable to rescue them on the day of the Lord’s ire, as money will be of no use whatsoever at that time; in the fire of His zealotry the entire land will be consumed, as He will effect a termination, a terrifying one, or one of great dread and confusion, of all the inhabitants of the land.

Gather yourselves, gather others together, nation that does not yearn [shelo nikhsaf]. Alternatively, the term shelo nikhsaf means: That is unloved, or: That is not ashamed of its sins.

Gather together and try to act before the decree is born; the day passes like chaff; before the decree arrives as quickly as wind passes through chaff. Seek to mend your ways before the enflamed wrath of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the wrath of the Lord comes upon you. If you do, there is still hope for you.

Seek the Lord, all the humble of the earth, the decent people who performed His ordinances, who obey the word of God; seek justice, seek humility, improve your character as well as your external behavior. Perhaps in the merit of your efforts to do good you will be hidden in some kind of shelter on the day of the wrath of the Lord.

The forthcoming troubles will affect many other places in the region, perhaps even more than Israel. The first casualties listed here are four of the five Philistine cities; note that the verse employs a significant amount of alliteration: For Gaza [Azza] will be forsaken [azzuva], and Ashkelon will be desolation [lishmama]; they will expel the inhabitants of Ashdod at noon, when there is no shelter or place to hide, and Ekron will be uprooted [te’aker] and its residents banished.

Woe! Inhabitants of the seacoast, where the Philistines resided, the nation from Crete. The word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, specifically the land of the Philistines; I will destroy you, Philistia, to be without an inhabitant.

The area of the seacoast, with its cities, ships, and coastal industries, will be pastures, meadows, or a place where wells are dug for shepherds and sheepfolds.

It, that coastal region, will be a portion for the remnant of the house of Judah. Those left in Judah will settle in the abandoned places in nearby Philistia, upon which they will graze their flocks; they will lie in the empty houses of Ashkelon in the evening, as the Lord their God will reckon with them, the Jewish people, and He will return their captives to their land, and enable them to settle in areas that were formally inhabited by their enemies.

God will settle accounts with other nations as well: I have heard the reviling from Moav, and the taunts of the children of Amon, with which they have reviled My people, Israel, and they boasted at their border, the Land of Israel. Although Moav and Amon did not themselves conquer the Land of Israel, they rejoiced in the Israelites’ downfall and sought to infiltrate the land as deeply as they could.

Therefore, as I live, which is an expression denoting an oath – the utterance of the Lord of hosts, God of Israel – Moav will be like Sodom, which was utterly destroyed, and the children of Amon will be like Gomorrah, as a growth of thorns, a desolate land overrun by wild thorns and weeds, a salt mine, and desolation forever; the remnant of My people, Judah, will loot them, and those left over of My nation will inherit them.

This, they, Moav and Amon, will have as punishment for their pride, because they taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts. Although the Israelites can be criticized, as the prophet himself does in the previous chapter, the gentile nations have no right to deride them, and they will be punished for their demeaning attitude.

The Lord is awe-inspiring to them and casts terror upon them, as He will shrivel all the gods of the earth, and each man will prostrate himself from his place, all the islands of the nations. When the distant nations see that God has revealed Himself in this place and has punished the wicked, they will show Him respect.

The prophet first addressed the nations adjacent to Israel, the Philistines to the west of Judah, and Amon and Moav to the east. Here he declares that the more distant peoples in the north and south will also suffer the retribution they deserve: You too, Kushites, who live in Egypt or nearby; it is they who are punished, as they will be slain by My sword.

He will extend His hand against the north and will destroy Assyria, which was still a great kingdom at the time; He will render Nineveh, the large, celebrated capital of Assyria, a desolation; it will be as arid as the desert.

Herds will lie down in its midst, every nation’s beasts; both the eagle owl and the fish owl, wild nocturnal birds, will nest on its capitals, ornamental tops on the columns of the city’s most magnificent buildings; a trill of such birds will sing in the destroyed window of each house. Destruction will be in its doorway [saf]. Alternatively, saf refers to a drinking vessel or mug. Everything will dry out in these forsaken places, for the cedar from which the large houses of the city were constructed will be uprooted, becoming unstable and collapsing.

This is the once glad city that sits in security, that said in its heart: I, and nothing but me; no one can compare to me. How did it become desolation, a resting place for the beast? Zephaniah possibly knew of Nineveh’s immense size, and he might even have seen it at its zenith, when it was a ruling city full of inhabitants and animals. However, Nineveh was eventually struck down and utterly destroyed. Like other cities of its kind, all that was left were a few pillars, gates, and other ruins, and over the course of time it was covered with earth. Everyone who passes by it and sees the destruction of the city will whistle in astonishment and wave his hand in amazement at the city’s fate.

Woe! It is filthy, or rebellious, and polluted, contaminated with sin, the city that is the dove, Jerusalem, which causes others to suffer. The dove is generally a symbol of peace, perfection, and beauty, whereas here the Hebrew term hayyona is used as an adjective that bears the opposite meaning.

It did not listen to the voice of God; it did not accept rebuke and warning; it did not trust in the Lord; it did not approach its God.

Its princes in its midst are like roaring lions; its judges are like wolves of the evening, not leaving a bone [lo garemu] of their prey for the morning. Alternatively, the words lo garemu mean that the wolves never finish consuming their prey. Either way, the meaning is that the corrupt leaders of the city act like beasts of prey that are never sated.

Its prophets are impetuous, flighty, men of treachery; its priests desecrated the sacred; they have been villainous to the Torah, as they do not fulfill their duty to teach it to the people.

The Lord, who is righteous, is dwelling in its midst, He will not perform injustice; each morning He brings His judgment to light, He judges virtuously, and it, His judgment, does not fail. But although the wicked are punished, the unjust one in the city knows no shame. Such people are not even embarrassed about their deeds.

God declares: I eliminated nations before your eyes. Their corners, of their towers, are desolate; alternatively, their prominent leaders have been cut off. I destroyed their streets so that they are without a passerby; their cities became desolate, without a man, with no inhabitant.

I said, I thought to Myself: After seeing what I have done to other nations, just fear Me, accept rebuke, and consequently, its dwelling, the houses of Jerusalem, will not be eliminated, all that I have reckoned for it will be. Alternatively, this means: All the good I wish to visit upon the city will come to pass. Instead, rather than change their ways, they, the residents of Jerusalem, arose early, and corrupted all their exploits. They rose early and eagerly, not to repent, but to engage in new acts of corruption.

Therefore, wait for Me – the utterance of the Lord – for the day of My rising up forever, that is, until the day that I arise and reveal Myself forever; for My judgment will be to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour My fury upon them, to pour all My enflamed wrath upon them, for with the fire of My zealotry the entire earth will be consumed. If you act wickedly you too will be destroyed together with them.

For then, when My word comes to pass and I have removed all impurity, I will convert all the peoples to a pure and accurate language, for all of them to call in the name of the Lord, to serve Him with a common effort, together with their combined strengths.

Even from beyond the rivers of Kush, which was considered the southern edge of the world, far beyond the border of Egypt, Atarai, and Bat Putzai, they will bring My gift. The latter two refer to either one or two far-flung places.

On that day you will not be ashamed of all your exploits with which you transgressed against Me, for then I will remove from your midst the exultant in your pride, all those wealthy individuals of distinguished lineage, the lustful and the robbers, and you will not continue to be haughty on My holy mountain any longer.

I will leave in your midst a poor and impoverished people, who will not be able to boast of its wealth, and they will take shelter in the name of the Lord.

The remnant of Israel of that time will not perform iniquity and will not speak falsehood, and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth, as they will graze and lie down, in other words, they will live in peace like a flock grazing in the field, and there will be none to frighten them.

Sing, daughter of Zion, cheer, Israel, at the time of the redemption; rejoice and delight wholeheartedly, daughter of Jerusalem.

For the Lord removed your judgments, the judgments against you, or the enemies who executed them; He took away your enemy, the nations that plotted against you, from their places; the King of Israel, the Lord, is found in your midst. All the nations will be subjugated to Him, and therefore you will not fear evil any longer. All those Israelites who performed evil will also be expelled, and only the upright will remain. Although they may have been poor and pitiful previously, from that point onward, they will live quiet, peaceful lives.

On that day it will be said by God to Jerusalem: Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands weaken.

The Lord your God is in your midst, and He is the Valiant One who will rescue; He will rejoice over you with joy, He will be silent in His love, as it will not be necessary for Him to express His love in words; He will exult over you with song.

God continues to speak to Jerusalem: I have gathered, or healed upon their revival, those who sorrow for the festivals, who are despondent due to the lack of the festivals or who mourn for you at regular times; they, those mourners, were from you, and they bore the burden of your disgrace.

Behold, at that time I will crush all those who afflict you, and I will rescue the lame, and the outcasts and the lost I will assemble. The poor and unfortunate will be gathered together, and I will set them for praise and for public acclaim; in all the land they will be shamed by them. The other nations will be ashamed when they see that the poor and unfortunate have been elevated. Alternatively, the final clause means that those who were formally cast away and shamed will subsequently be praised.

At that time will I bring you in to the land, and at that time assemble you, as I will render you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I return your captivity before your eyes, said the Lord. As he reproves Jerusalem for its leaders’ corruption and its inhabitants’ evil behavior, Zephaniah also foresees the day of God, when He will come and subdue the wicked, including the sinners of Israel. Only the honest and worthy will remain under God’s protection, and the exiles that return to the Land of Israel will live there humbly and with joy.