Zephaniah 1:16 - Exposition.

A day of the trumpet and alarm. "Alarm" means "the sound of alarm." Among the Jews trumpets were used to announce the festivals ( Numbers 29:1 ), and to give the signal for battle or of the approach of an enemy ( Jeremiah 4:5 , Jeremiah 4:19 ; Ezekiel 33:4 ). Here it is the signal of destruction ( Amos 2:2 ). The fenced cities. The strongest fortresses shall feel the irresistible attack ( Micah 5:11 ). The high towers. These are the turrets built at the angles of the walls for the better defence of the city, and to annoy the besiegers ( Zephaniah 3:6 ). LXX ; ἐπὶ τὰς γωνίας τὰς ὑψηλάς , "upon the lofty angles;" Vulgate, super angulos excelsos. Others take the words to mean "the battlements" on the walls. Henderson quotes Taeitus's description of the later walls of Jerusalem, " Duos colles immensum editos claudebant muri per artem obliqui aut introrsus sinuati, ut latera oppugnantium ad ictus patesceren t" ('Hist.,' 5.11).