Zephaniah 1:15

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Zephaniah 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Zephaniah 1:15

That day is a day of wrath ,.... Both of the wrath of God against his people for their sins; these judgments being the effects of his wrath, provoked by their iniquities; and of the wrath and cruelty of the Chaldeans, exercised in a furious manner: a day of trouble and distress ; to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they being taken and led captive, their houses plundered and demolished, and the whole city and temple laid in ruins: a day of wasteness and desolation ; of the whole... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Zephaniah 1:15

That day is a day of wrath - See Isaiah 22:5 ; (note); Jeremiah 30:7 ; (note); Joel 2:2 ; (note), Joel 2:11 ; (note); Amos 5:18 ; (note); Zephaniah 1:18 ; (note), and the notes there. From the fourteenth to the sixteenth verse inclusive there is a most beautiful amplification of the disasters that were coming on Jerusalem; the invasion, incursion, attack, carnage, confusion, horrible din occasioned by the sound of the trumpet, the cries of the people, and the shrieks and groans... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Zephaniah 1:15

Verse 15 The Prophet shows here how foolish they were who extenuated God’s vengeance, as hypocrites and all wicked men are wont to do. Hence he accuses the Jews of madness, that they thought that the way of reconciliation would be easy to them, when they had by their perverseness provoked God to come against them as an armed enemy. For though the ungodly do not promise to themselves anything of God’s favor, yet they entertain vain imaginations, as though he might with no trouble be pacified:... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Zephaniah 1:1-18

Part I. THE JUDGMENT UPON ALL THE WORLD , AND UPON JUDAH IN PARTICULAR . read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Zephaniah 1:1-18

We learn from ver. 1 that Zephaniah received from the Lord his message to Judah in the days of Josiah, the last of the godly and reforming kings, who, after the gross corruption of the preceding reigns of Manasseh and Amon, restored to a large extent the purity of the worship of God, and was the means of bringing about a certain kind and degree of repentance and amendment in the people. Probably, however, the major part of Zephaniah's prophecy belongs to the early part of Josiah's reign,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Zephaniah 1:14-18

§ 5. To arouse the self-confident sinners, the prophet here enlarges upon the near approach and terrible nature of this coming judgment. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Zephaniah 1:15

That day is a day of wrath; Vulgate, Dies irae, dies illa, words which form the commencement of the famous hymn. The better to describe the terrible nature of the judgment, the prophet crowds together all available expressions of terror and calamity. First, it is a day when God's anger shall blaze forth ( Isaiah 9:18 ). Of trouble and distress. In its effects upon sinners ( Job 15:24 ). Of wasteness and desolation. As if things returned to the primeval chaos ( Genesis 1:2 ; comp.... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Zephaniah 1:15

A day of wrath - In which all the wrath of Almighty God, which evil angels and evil men have treasured to them for that day, shall be poured out: “the” day of wrath, because then they shall be brought face to face before the presence of God, but thenceforth they shall be cast out of it forever.A day of trouble and distress - Both words express, how anguish shall narrow and hem them in; so that there shall be no escape; above them, God displeased; below, the flames of Hell; around, devils to... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Zephaniah 1:14-16

Zephaniah 1:14-16. The great day of the Lord is near The time of God’s executing his terrible judgments is nigh at hand. Even the voice, &c. The word even is not in the Hebrew. This latter part of the sentence may, it seems, be better rendered thus: The voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, and it vehemently resoundeth there. Or, Then the mighty man crieth out. The general sense is, that great noise, or distraction, should attend the taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. That... read more

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