Zephaniah 1:9 - Exposition.

Those that leap on ( over ) the threshold. These are the retainers of the princes, etc; named in ver. 8. There is no allusion to the circumstance of the priests of Dagon abstaining from treading on the threshold of their temple in consequence of what happened to the idol at Ashdod ( 1 Samuel 5:5 ). It is inconceivable that this merely local custom, which demonstrated the impotence of the false god, should hare been imported into Judah. where, indeed, the worship of Dagon seems never to have made any way. The following clause explains the meaning which the Latin version intimates, Omnem qui arroganter ingreditur super limen — all those who, carrying out their masters' wishes, violently invade the houses of others and pillage them of their contents. The expression, "to leap over the threshold," seems to have been a common term for burglary and stealing with violence. Which fill their masters' houses. These retainers plunder and steal in order that they may increase their masters' treasures. The king (though not Josiah) may be meant, the plural being the plural of majesty, or the idol temples. The LXX ; followed by Jerome, renders, "who fill the house of the Lord their God." This is plainly erroneous, as there is no question here about the temple at Jerusalem. Violence and deceit; i.e. the fruits of, what they have extorted by, violence and fraud ( Jeremiah 5:27 ).