Chapter One

2–3. The universality of God’s terrifying judgment that is to break forth upon the world. 4–7. A general indication of the transgressions of the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem, by which they have drawn God’s wrath upon themselves, with specification of particular forms of their idolatrous worship – the cults of Baal, the heavenly bodies, and Moloch; the proximity and inevitability of the terrible day of the Lord. 8–13. The different classes of the population are named more specifically, whose transgressions and impiety have provoked God’s wrath: members of the royal family and court nobles, then people who place their hopes on their wealth, and people who are morally hardened and deny God’s action in the world. 14–18. A depiction of the horrors of the day of the Lord, as a consequence of which the land and its inhabitants will perish.

Zephaniah 1:2. I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord: Zephaniah 1:3. I will sweep away people and animals, I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks along with the wicked; I will sweep away people from the face of the earth, says the Lord. Full of divine inspiration and, as it were, absorbed by the thought of the serious importance of the revelation he has received, the prophet at the very beginning of his speech, without any preamble, directly expresses the essence of his prophecy, which consists in proclaiming the nearness of all-consuming God’s wrath and judgment. God’s judgment is unalterable and moreover universal – it encompasses all the earth: Jehovah will sweep away “everything” from the face of the earth (2), namely: people and animals, birds and fish (3a). But this universality of God’s destructive wrath over all according to His judgment is here itself limited by the indication that what will be destroyed are precisely the wicked with their stumbling blocks (3b). “The Lord says – as blessed Jerome explains the words of God in vv. 2–3 – through the prophet: ‘I will no longer give time for repentance, but will sweep everything from the face of the earth. There will remain neither human nor beast, nor bird, nor fish of the sea.’ Thus even irrational animals experience the Lord’s wrath; for in the desolation of cities and the destruction of people, there will be either complete annihilation or a significant diminution of animals, fish, and birds. Witnesses to this are Illyricum, Thrace, and the land where I was born, where everything perished except the sky and earth, constantly growing thorns and impassable forests. And this will happen, as the prophet says, because the multitude of the wicked is too great. Thus the wicked will fall, people will perish, and there will be a desert over the face of the earth” (pp. 240–241). Nevertheless, whether the desolation of the country – Judea – predicted here would come to pass with entire literal precision, at least if one adheres to the historical limits of the prophecy, is hardly the case. “Here,” says holy Cyril of Alexandria, “the prophecy speaks in hyperbolic expressions about how their land will become a complete wilderness and scarcely fails to perish with all its inhabitants... But as when a ship is wrecked nothing remains of those swimming in it, so when Judea is captured, nothing, he says, will be saved: neither person nor animal nor bird nor fish. But since there were probably among them those who lived in accordance with the law and had conduct that was seemly and worthy of admiration; so that it might not appear that He directs His wrath against everyone indiscriminately and without discernment and destroys the righteous together with the unrighteous and together with the lawless and wicked destroys the godly; for this very reason He expressly points out against whom the consequences of His wrath will fall; for He said that “the wicked will fail, and I will remove the lawless from the face of the earth” (pp. 330–331). The Greek text of the LXX accepted by many of its most authoritative manuscripts – the Sinaitic, Vatican, and Alexandrian – omit in the translation of v. 2 the word “all” (Hebrew kol), which is also omitted in Hebrew ms. 245 at Kennicott. “Probably,” remarks Mr. Turnin, “the word was not originally in the text, and was inserted later for clarity; otherwise the omission of this word in the LXX would be inexplicable” (p. 6). But the presence of this word in almost all without exception copies of the Hebrew text – if we assume that it was not original – would be even less permissible. Besides, this word is rendered in the Chaldean, Syriac, Vulgate, and Slavonic translations; it has πὰν in many Greek manuscripts; the Aldine and also mss. 22, 36, 42, 51, 62, 86 (38 targ.), 97, 114, 147, 238, 240. And the parallelism of the prophet’s speech in vv. 2–3 with similar prophetic declarations by other prophets (for example Jer 4:23-25; Hos 4:3 etc.) requires acknowledging the originality of the generalizing “all.” Taken as a whole, the terrible words of vv. 1–3 have a world or cosmic character and can be most directly compared with God’s terrible judgment upon the antediluvian world, Gen 6:7: “I will sweep away the people I have made from the face of the earth – people and animals, creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air.” The prophet does not indicate the manner itself by which all living things on earth will be swept away, but judging from the description of the disasters awaiting Judea below in vv. 12–18, the prophet threatens the earth with devastating wars which in the ancient East indeed brought complete desolation and death to the warred-upon land (see 2 Sam 3:19 etc.).

Zephaniah 1:4. I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and I will cut off from this place the remnants of Baal, the name of the priests along with the priestly servants, Zephaniah 1:5. and those who on rooftops worship the host of heaven, and those worshipers who swear by the Lord and also swear by their king, Zephaniah 1:6. and those who have turned away from the Lord, who have not sought the Lord and have not inquired of Him. Zephaniah 1:7. Be silent before the Lord God! for the day of the Lord is near: the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated His invited guests. After the general indication of the wrathful judgment of God that is to be manifested in the world, the prophet speaks more specifically and definitively, explaining that the first and chief object of the punitive actions of God’s wrath and judgment will be Judea, and first of all Jerusalem with its inhabitants. “What he had said covertly he now clarifies and says directly that God’s wrath will fall upon the tribe of Judah and Jerusalem. He says that His hand will be stretched out against them, as if seizing and striking and subduing them by those who are soon expected and will bring devastation...” (Holy Cyril of Alexandria). The inhabitants of Jerusalem, although they are included in the concept of Judea, are named separately in view of their special culpability: Jerusalem, which had been the center of the national and political life of the Jews and had within itself the only temple on earth to the True God, in which Jehovah promised to dwell forever, receiving the prayers not only of members of God’s people but also of foreigners (1 Sam 8:41-42; 2 Chr 7:15-16), in the reign of impious kings not only ceased to be the center of true religion and life according to the principles of theocracy, but also became the center and source of all the abominations of idolatrous worship throughout the country. It is for this reason that the prophet particularly threatens the inhabitants of Jerusalem with punishment. Next (vv. 4b–6) the prophet more specifically indicates the form of punishment, and in doing so reveals and enumerates the chief types of transgressions of the Jews against the purity of faith and worship, by which “enumeration of sins the justice of the punishment is proven” (blessed Theodoret, p. 42). First of all, the “remnants of Baal” will be destroyed – Hebrew she’ar habba’al, Vulg. reliquiae Baal, or according to the Slavonic Bible “the names of Baal.” LXX: τὰ ὀνόματα τῆς Βαάλ (τῶν Βααλιμ, as in ms. 95, 182, 240. Τῶν Βααλειμ – mss. 22, 36, 42, 51, 62, 147, 233 in Holmes). Evidently the LXX read instead of she’ar, “remnant” – shem, “name”; and this latter word stands also in some Hebrew copies 96, 150, 201 marg. Kennic. Such vacillation in the Hebrew text itself, then the comparison of parallel passages to the one under consideration – Zeph 1:4 two prophetic passages – Hos 2:18 (shemot habba’alim) and Zech 13:2 (shemot-ha’azabim), as well as the authority of the LXX text, give grounds for preferring here the originality of the Greek translation’s reading over the Masoretic text, especially since the second component of the expression – ba’al – in some Hebrew manuscripts is read as in the Greek: habba’alim (96 Kennic. 22, 36, 51 Lucian). The meaning of the expression, however, does not differ significantly in the one or the other reading. God’s punitive action will wipe out from the face of the earth the anti-God Sidonite cult of Baal, introduced first by Ahab in the kingdom of Israel (1 Sam 16:31), and later spread also in Judea. The destruction will be complete and perfect – all traces of idolatrous worship will be eliminated, so that the very names of both the idols of Baal and his priests, the kemarin, will vanish from memory. By kemarin, here as in 2 Sam 23:5, distinguished from kohanim, priests, one must understand, apparently, those not of Levitic origin in distinction from the kohanim, who belonged to the tribe of Levi. (See Commentary Bible, vol. II, p. 569). “That the people of Judah will be destroyed by war and brought to such small numbers that there will perhaps be no one left to pronounce the name of Baal or to be able to remain at the idolatrous temples, to this (the prophet) subtly alluded by saying that the names of the idols and their priests will be destroyed (Holy Cyril of Alexandria). The judgment of God will strike next those “who on rooftops worship the host of heaven” (tzeva hashemayim), v. 5a. Here is meant the Babylonian cult of the heavenly bodies known to the Jews from ancient times (Deut 4:19), but which spread in Judea only from the time of Kings Ahaz and especially Manasseh, a cult of Sabaism; not connected with the temple and priests, performed on the rooftops of houses, this cult took deep root among the Jews and even survived the destruction of Jerusalem – it was practiced by Jews who fled to Egypt (Jer 13:13). As a parallel to this sinful cult (in 5b) is named the custom of the Jews simultaneously swearing by Jehovah and by “their king” – Hebrew bemalkim. The expression: “to swear by someone,” according to Old Testament understanding, means the practice of a certain cult (see Isa 19:18; Amos 8:14; Jer 4:3); from this it is already evident that the Hebrew malkim must mean “deity.” In the manuscripts of the Lucian recension of the LXX: 22, 36, 51, 95, 185, 238 one reads Μελχόμ or Μολόχ, ms. 62, 66, 147, or χολχομ – 240 in Holmes, and similarly in the Peshitta and in the Vulgate: Melshom. All this gives ground to see here, as in 1 Sam 11:5-7, the Ammonite deity Moloch (See Commentary Bible, vol. II, p. 418). Thus, into God’s punishment will fall people of divided religious consciousness, who in their faith and in their cult displayed a unique syncretism, whose beginning in Judea went back to the time of Ahaz (2 Sam 16:3) and even much earlier. Finally, God’s wrath and judgment are provoked, according to v. 6, by the apostates generally, those who have changed toward Jehovah in heart, faith or life: “by those not seeking the Lord and not caring to cleave to Him (not holding to the Lord), one should apparently understand those living a wicked and shameful life and who have loved lawless behavior” (holy Cyril of Alexandria, p. 334) or these were people completely indifferent to matters of religion, and such religious indifference is a natural consequence of the widespread distribution in the country of diverse cults, which indeed was the case in Judea under Manasseh. This religious indifference naturally prepared the ground for complete unbelief, one type of which below (Zeph 1:12) the prophet calls. Having depicted the various forms of ungodliness among the Jews, the prophet contemplates the immediate nearness of the impending judgment of God as the inevitable consequence of the transgressions he has listed, and as a messenger and herald of God he himself bows in reverent prostration before the majesty and terrors of the coming judgment of God, and summons his listeners also to such reverence by the exclamation “Silence!” customary among biblical writers (compare Judg 3:19; Amos 6:10; Hab 2:20; Zech 2:13, Hebrew 17): “Be silent before the Lord God” – an expression altogether like that used by the prophet Habakkuk (Hab 2:20) and the prophet Zechariah (Zech 2:13, Hebrew 17). The meaning of the particle “silence” is explained by blessed Jerome, saying: “instead of what the LXX translated as ‘tremble’ (εὐλαβεῖτε) and we have as ‘be silent’ (silete), in the Hebrew is found an exclamatory word of one who commands silence” (p. 247). There is no need, as some commentators (such as Hitzig, Schwally, Marti) do, to see in this exclamation a direct relation to the sacrificial action (like the exclamation customary in Roman sacrificial ritual: favete linguis). Rather, as shown by the prophetic parallels Zech 2:13 (17) and especially Hab 2:20, this exclamation, being an expression of reverential awe before the Lord and Judge called God, represents the prophet’s immediate impression from his general contemplation of the threatening picture of God’s judgment that lies before him and at the same time serves as a transition to the detailed depiction of the latter. The prophet expresses the content or essence of God’s judgment briefly in three propositions: a) the day of the Lord is near; b) the Lord has already prepared a sacrifice (zevach); c) He has designated those to be invited (hikdish keruav). “The day of the Lord” (Yom Jehovah), according to the observation of blessed Jerome, is “a day of captivity and vengeance against a sinful people” (p. 247). Indeed, in the sacred books of the Old Testament, “the day of the Lord” appears as a day of the triumph of God’s righteousness and almightiness in the world and is presented as if a day of God’s reign over the earth (Ps 96:1; Isa 2:12; Zech 14:9) and precisely that moment when after a certain patience toward those who violate God’s righteousness the Lord manifests Himself as the terrible Master and Judge of the world and restores the violated justice by terrible punishments upon the wicked, and first and foremost among the chosen people of God, and then among other peoples of the world (Amos 5:18, Mic 1:3, Joel 1:15, Obad 1:15; Hab 3:16; Jer 30:7 and many others). Even the most distant moment in the prophetic conception of “the day of the Lord” is the contemplation of a bright future – the formation of a renewed theocracy on the ruins of Israel destroyed by God’s punishment and the world (Amos 9:8; Hos 2:20), the restoration of God’s kingdom from a small surviving “remnant” (Isa 7:1); and so also in the prophet Zephaniah, see Zeph 3:8-20. And the ultimate foundation of the prophetic teaching about “the day of the Lord” is a presentiment of the inevitability of a day of final universal judgment of God over the entire world, about which the prophet Malachi speaks more clearly (Mal 3:1-2 Hebrew, 3:23), and especially clearly in the New Testament writings (2 Pet 3:10; 1 Thess 5:2; 2 Thess. 2, etc.). “The day of the Lord” in the prophet Zephaniah in the passage under consideration appears with two attributes: a prepared sacrifice and designated guests or participants in the sacrificial feast. But what is this sacrifice and who are the invited? The sacrifice is the destruction of violators of God’s law, see Isa 34:6; Jer 46:10, and the invited or elect are the executors of God’s judgment, most precisely – the Babylonians Isa 13:3; Jer 25:9. “By sacrifices,” says blessed Theodoret, “the prophetic word often names – and the slaying of the lawless; this can be found also in other prophets and in the divinely wise Ezekiel. And by the invited he names enemies.” According to the words of holy Cyril of Alexandria, “he names a sacrifice the destruction of the wicked that was to take place by His will. And he names the invited the Chaldeans, of whom he says that they are consecrated, not because they became holy, but because they were appointed and called by God to burn Judea and destroy her inhabitants without mercy. The Holy Scripture says something similar also in another place. The Persians and Medes who fought with Cyrus were called against Nineveh, and about them God said: ‘they are consecrated, and I will lead them, warriors will come to carry out my anger, rejoicing together and mocking’ (Isa 13:3). Thus, in these words consecration means not the putting away of sinfulness and not the receipt of the Holy Spirit, but as if the predestination and appointment of certain people to the fulfillment of some such deed” (pp. 336–337). Here comes forth, therefore, a two-sided understanding of holiness and consecration among biblical Hebrews, common to them with other Semites, by which, according to the words of blessed Theodoret, “as the truly holy is separated and removed from the unclean, so those appointed to bear punishment, as separated for this by God of all things, he calls sacred. Thus he also named it a sacrifice not in the precise sense of the word. Thus also the word ‘anathema’ has a dual meaning, for by it is meant not only what is dedicated to God, but what is alienated from Him” (p. 43).

Zephaniah 1:8. And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice: I will punish the princes and the sons of the king and all who are clothed in foreign apparel; Zephaniah 1:9. and I will punish on that day all who leap over the threshold, who fill the house of their Lord with violence and deceit. Zephaniah 1:10. And on that day, says the Lord, a cry will come from the Fish Gate, and a wail from the Second Quarter, and a great crash from the hills. Zephaniah 1:11. Wail, inhabitants of the Mortar, for all the merchant people are destroyed, and all who load themselves with silver are cut off. Zephaniah 1:12. And it shall come to pass at that time: I will search Jerusalem with a lamp, and I will punish those who are settled on their dregs, those who say in their heart: “The Lord does not do good, nor does he do evil. Zephaniah 1:13. And their wealth will become plunder and their houses desolation; they will build houses but not dwell in them, they will plant vineyards but will not drink the wine. Having proclaimed (Zeph 1:7) the approach of the terrible day of the Lord’s sacrifice, before he proceeds to depict the disasters of this day, the prophet lingers yet on the moral state of the upper classes of society, who are the chief culprits in the corruption of the people, and upon whom, therefore, the punishing hand of Jehovah will be stretched out first. “There exist,” says holy Cyril of Alexandria, “the following three institutions on which the well-being of cities and countries depends: royal power, the governmental offices subordinate to it, and the glorious priesthood. If they remain in a good state, corresponding to each of them, then all affairs depending on them are in a well-ordered condition, and the subjects prosper. But if they wish to follow a perverse course and immediately begin to walk in it, then everything falls into disorder and, as if in drunkenness, rushes toward destruction. Just as when pain strikes the bodily head, the remaining members necessarily sympathize and grieve with it; so when the rulers have turned to evil and suffer from a tendency toward vices, the subordinates necessarily become corrupted together with them. So, on that day, he says, which is pleasing to God – that is, at that time when the slaying of those who committed terrible crimes should take place – wrath (of God) will find the very first objects distinguished from others by glory and excellence. Such are: the house of the king, then the house of people clothed in glory and honor nearest to him, and third after them, the house of the divine priesthood, which has received more prerogatives from God than the others” (pp. 337–338). Condemned first are the “princes” – Hebrew sarim, Greek ἄρχοντες, Latin principes – persons possessing administrative or judicial power, government officials, magnates, abusing their position. Then the prophet condemns the “sons of the king” – Hebrew bene-hammelekh, Vulg. filios regis – according to the LXX, τὸν οἶκον τοῦ βασιλέως, Slavonic “the house of the king.” The LXX evidently read not bene (hammelekh) sons, but bet, house. In view of the similarity of both words in spelling, and also their relationship in meaning, both the scribes and translators of the Hebrew text often took one of these words instead of the other. Thus in Jer 16:15; Ezek 2:3; 1 Chr 2:10 the LXX have οἴκος, while the Masoretic text in these places has bene (sons of Israel and similar); and conversely, in Exod 16:31; Josh 17:17; Josh 18:5; Nehem 7:8; Hos 1:7 in the LXX: υἱοί (sons), in the Masoretes – bet. The sense of the expression remains essentially the same in both cases. However, we, contrary to the opinion of Mr. Turnin (named work, p. XXXI note and p. 29), believe that the original reading in this case is the Hebrew Masoretic, not the Greek. The Hebrew text here has no variants at all (in favor of bet), whereas in Greek ms. 91 there is a reading expressing the sense of the Hebrew bet (τοὺς ἐκγόνους Ἰωσίου τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου). The inappropriateness of the Greek reading is evident also from the fact that in the following v. 9 the word bet – “house” – has an entirely different sense. But accepting the Masoretic reading, we cannot relate the expression “sons of the king” exclusively only to the children of King Josiah, as some researchers and commentators of the book of the prophet Zephaniah think, basing their opinion on the supposed comparatively late date of the writing of the book on the fact that the sons of Josiah – Joahaz, Joakim, Zedekiah, Shallum (1 Chr 3:14-15) – at the time of the writing of the book must have already been adults, and this could not have been if the book was written in the first half of the reign of Josiah (who ascended the throne, as is known, at only eight years of age, 2 Sam 22:1) (Hitzig, Philippson, and others). It is far more natural to understand the expression bene-hammelekh in the broad sense of members of the royal house (compare 2 Sam 10:3) and to see here a general reference to the ruling dynasty of the house of David (compare Jer 21:11-12). – The second half of v. 8 condemns “all those clothed in foreign apparel” (kol hagov’im malbush nokri). Does this expression indicate a new, third class of people who have provoked the great wrath of the Judge God, or do these words relate only to the preceding, revealing the guilt of the magnates and members of the royal family? Holy Cyril of Alexandria sees in this the condemnation of a third class of the leading population – the priesthood: “He strongly accuses (the prophet) them and the priests because they clothed themselves in garments foreign, that is, finally came to such an aversion to all that is divine and so neglected the ancient ordinances of Moses that they did not even preserve the outward appearance of priesthood, when a definite time called them to the performance of priestly service. Wherefore, as the sons of Aaron were destroyed by fire, and their transgressions and guilt consisted in that they offered on the altar a fire foreign (Lev 10:1-2); in exactly the same way these, of whom we have spoken, undergo punishment because they, neglecting the propriety befitting them, did not clothe themselves according to priesthood, in accordance with the will of the lawgiver, but clothed themselves in garments foreign, daring to perform sacred functions” (p. 338). In favor of such a special explanation of the expression “clothed in foreign apparel” may also speak the content of v. 9, which however is understood unevenly. But the general sense and context of the speech requires accepting this expression in a broader sense not of priests alone, but of the upper classes of the population in general, who at this time were strongly and dangerously attracted to Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian customs and fashions (compare Isa 2:6; Amos 6:4-6). In the first place here, as is always the case in cultural borrowing, stood the attraction to foreign clothing, especially among women of wealthy status (Isa 3:16-23). And following foreign clothing, those eager for foreign cultural acquisitions borrowed also the spiritual characteristics of other peoples, including, what was especially destructive, religious-moral outlooks and cultic, worshipful forms (see for example Ezek 8:7-8). It is understandable therefore how severely the prophets condemned such borrowings, which they observed among the Hebrews of their time, and which appeared in the eyes of the prophets as symbols of idolatrous worship. Nevertheless, to see in 1:8b directly the condemnation of the criminal wearing of women’s clothing by men, forbidden in Zeph 1, and precisely to see in this passage an indication of the cult of Astarte with its sacred prostitutes – self-eunuchs – who wore women’s garments – there is no basis, both because priests – sacred prostitutes of the cult of Baal and together with it the related cult of Astarte – had already been mentioned above (Deut 22:5), and because the word nokri always means: foreign, alien, of another nation, foreign (for example Zeph 1:4-5; Exod 21:8; 1:8b. Deut 17) and never has the meaning: belonging to, characteristic of another sex. Rather here one must see, as noted among others by blessed Theodoret, a relation to the prohibition by the law of Moses of the making of cloth from wool and linen together, Judg 19:12; Lev 19:19. “The law,” remarks blessed Theodoret, “forbids garments woven from linen and wool (Deut 22:11; Deut 22:11). It is probable that those glorying in wealth and devoted to luxury in clothing imitated neighboring peoples and on linen garments made around them some varied and excessive ornaments of purple wool; and this was directly contrary to the divine commandment. Wherefore God threatens both them and those who with ungodliness and deceit enter the divine temple” (p. 44). In the closing words of blessed Theodoret the most acceptable explanation of v. 9 is given, especially the first half of which is distinguished, chiefly in the Greek-Slavonic text, by considerable obscurity and unintelligibility. There are three chief explanations of the words: “and I will punish on that day all who leap over the threshold (Hebrew kol-hadolegim al-hamif tan), who fill the house of their Lord with violence and deceit.” The ancient understanding, found already in the Targum, of the expression “those leaping over the threshold” sees in it an indication of the fact related in 1 Sam 5:5: namely, the custom established among the Philistines after a certain incident with their idol Dagon in the presence of the Israelite Ark of the Lord (ibid., vv. 2–4) not to step on the threshold of their temple (sanctified by the presence upon them of parts of the named idol), but to leap over it. It is presumed that this Philistine custom in the times of Manasseh was adopted by the Jews, wherefore the Targum transmits the first half of v. 9: “(those who punish) those who walk in the customs of the Philistines.” This opinion would most closely answer the letter of the biblical text, but its weak side is the complete non-mention in the Bible of the existence of the named Philistine custom among the Jews. Two other explanations are even weaker: a) that here is the discussion of magnates, sarim, who adopted the custom widespread in the East of honoring the threshold of the royal palace and not stepping on it (and the expression “the house of their Lord,” bet-adoneihem, is understood of the king); and b) of the retainers of magnates, who, availing themselves of the power of their patrons, robbed the people and brought into the houses of their masters (in such sense is the expression adoneihem understood here) unrighteously acquired treasures. But the thought of the royal palace or of the mansions of magnates is entirely foreign to the text. On the contrary, all ancient translations understand the expression bet-adoneihem in the sense of the house of God, that is, the temple, LXX: τὸν οἶκον Κυρίου θεοῦ αὐτῶν, Vulg. domum Domini Dei sui. Then, “the threshold,” Hebrew mif tan, in the Bible means only the threshold of a temple – pagan (1 Sam 5:4-5) or Jewish (Ezek 9:3). Taking into account the condemnation in v. 8 of those carried away by foreign garments, and here in v. 9, one can see the condemnation of some attraction, but now not in the realm of daily life but in the realm of worship. Apparently what is meant is a complete lack of reverence for the holiness of the temple on the part of the ministers of religion, as this is shown, among other things, by the translation of the Vulgate: et visitabo super omnem qui arroganter ingreditur super limen. The second half of the verse points to the very essence of the transgression of these ministers of religion. What is this ungodliness and what is this deceit (with which they fill the house of God)? Another prophet explains this to us, speaking of Jerusalem: “her leaders judge for bribes... and her prophets divine for money” (Mic 3:11); and the wise Isaiah rises up against it (Jerusalem) and says: “Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves” (Isa 1:23) (holy Cyril of Alexandria). The great sorrows of the day of the Lord will strike not only the leading and guiding classes of the people, but all the inhabitants of Jerusalem (and all of Judea), and the coming deprivations will be especially acutely felt by the wealthy. Verses 10 and 11 depict a picture of universal disaster in Jerusalem. The enemy will enter Jerusalem from the north, and therefore are named points lying in the northern part of Jerusalem: 1) the Fish Gate – shar-haddagim, 2) the Second Quarter – hashne, 3) the hills – gebavot, 4) the valley – machtesh. The location of all these localities in view of insufficient data on the topography of ancient Jerusalem can be indicated only with approximate accuracy. The Fish Gate, whose Hebrew name – shar haddagim – was rendered unsuccessfully in the LXX: πόλη ἀποκενταύντων, Slavonic “from the gates of those piercing” (probably the LXX read instead of haddagim – horegim – “killers”), is mentioned also in 2 Chr 33:14, Nehem 3:3. Blessed Jerome in his commentary gives an imprecise indication of the location of these gates: “the Fish Gate was called the gate which led to Diospolis and Joppa, among all the roads of Jerusalem this was the closest to the sea” (p. 251). Based on this account, the Fish Gate should have been located on the western side of Jerusalem. But in fact, as is particularly clear from Nehem 12:39, the Fish Gate lay on the northern side of the city, perhaps at the site of the present Damascus Gate, in the middle of the second wall of Jerusalem near the fish market (Nehem 13:16) (See Commentary Bible, vol. III, pp. 615 and 644). The expression: “the Second” (part of the city), “hamishne,” which in Josephus Flavius, Antiquities 15:11, 5, is transmitted by the words: ἄλλη πόλις, denotes the northern part of Jerusalem, located on the hill of Lyra and lying between the first and second wall of the city (holy Commentary Bible, vol. I, p. 248). The LXX – ἀπό τῆς δευτέρας – and the Vulgate – a secunda – understand the word hamishne in the sense of gates, but 2 Sam 22:14 (where the “Second Quarter” is presented, moreover, as the dwelling place of the prophetess Huldah) are not favorable to such an understanding. – The location of the “hills,” gebavot, cannot be determined with precision; however, the location of them in the northern part of the city, in view of the general context of vv. 10–11, is beyond question, and in this case, by this word could be meant Moriah, Zion, and other elevations of the city’s territory. Equally indefinite is the location of the locality machtesh, mentioned in v. 11. The nominal meaning of this Hebrew word: “mortar,” montes (2 Chr 34:22) or “pit” (Prov 27:22), and the ancient translations transmit the nominal meaning unevenly. LXX: κατοικοῦντες τὴν κατακεκομενην, Slavonic “living in the hewn place” (blessed Theodoret: “he called Jerusalem hewn on account of the disaster befalling it”). Vulg: habitatores pilae (blessed Jerome: “living in the mortar, because they are jostled about just as grain is crushed by a wooden piece from above”), Theodotion: ἐν τῷ βάθει – Aquila and Symmachus: ὅλμος, “valley.” Chaldean Targum: nekhala Kidron, valley of Kedron. In later researchers the representation of a valley, hollow, associated with machtesh prevails, and it seems most soundly to see here the valley separating Zion from the Acra and Moriah and known in Josephus Flavius by the name φάραγξ τοροποιῶν, the valley of the potters, now Tyropoeon. The prophet threatens the inhabitants of this valley with complete destruction, and the inhabitants of this locality are designated first as “the people of Canaan,” Hebrew am-kana’an, and then as “those burdened with silver,” netule-kesef. Both concepts, parallel to each other, are evidently synonymous in meaning, which is fully understandable from the frequent use in the Bible of the word “kena’ani,” Canaanite (or, the same as am-kana’an, the people of Canaan, as in the passage under consideration) in the sense of: merchant (Judg 15:19; Hos 12:8; Isa 23:8), since the most famous of the Canaanites – the Phoenicians – were the chief trading people of the ancient world, making their tribal name a synonym for trade (compare also Job 40:30). Therefore valid is the meaning of the Hebrew am-kana’an in the Russian Synod: “trading people.” The Canaanite or Phoenician origin of these inhabitants of the Jerusalem quarter Machtesh is fully permissible: before the captivity of Judea did not yet know that rigorism which after the captivity prompted them to forbid Phoenicians and other Canaanites from settling in Jerusalem (Ezek 17:4; Nehem 13:16); before the Babylonian captivity many of them certainly dwelt in Jerusalem (compare Zech 14:21). It is entirely natural, however, that the negative properties of merchants: a passion for gain, dishonesty and the like could easily be transmitted from the Phoenicians to the Jews. It is entirely acceptable therefore to explain the expression “the people of Canaan” and in application to the Jews. “By Canaan’s people (populus Chanaan),” says blessed Jerome, “he (the prophet) named the Jewish people, corresponding to what we read in the book of Daniel: seed of Canaan, not of Judah” (Ezek 44:4-8) (p. 254). According to blessed Theodoret, “since (the inhabitants of Jerusalem) rivaled the impiety of the Canaanites, they also suffered the final destruction like the Canaanites; and in no way did their wealth help them” (p. 45). The same is the explanation in v. 11 and of holy Cyril of Alexandria (Dan 13:56) (pp. 342–343). In view of the fact, however, that the prophet’s threats of the terrible horrors awaiting the city of Jerusalem – plunder, bloodshed, murders by enemies – could meet with indifference, disbelief, and even contempt on the part of unbelieving people, the prophet in vv. 12–13 insistently speaks of the inevitability and inescapability of the complete and total destruction of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their property. At the beginning of v. 12, instead of the reading of the accepted Hebrew text, Hebrew ba’et hagig, Vulg. intempore illo, the Greek text of the LXX has, without any variants, a different reading: ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ. In view of the fact that in the first chapter of the book of the prophet Zephaniah to denote the moment of the revelation of God’s judgment both before and after v. 12 the word yom, “day” is used, not et, time, and also in view of the fact that the expression be-yom-hagig is found also in some Hebrew copies at Kennicott (30, 139, 150, 158), the reading of the LXX – Slavonic: “on that day” – deserves preference over the reading of the Masoretes. Vulg. – The impossibility for anyone to escape the punishing hand of Jehovah on the day of His wrath the prophet presents in 12a vividly, depicting Jehovah Himself walking with a lamp (LXX Slavonic, μετὰ λύχνου, “with a lamp” is more precise here than Hebrew Vulg. ba-nerot. In lucernis) through the dark and secret places of the city where the inhabitants of Jerusalem could hide from enemies. “It is expressed figuratively, and the manner of speech is taken from those who use a lamp in the search for something lost, and do not put it down from their hands until they find it” (blessed Theodoret). This image is especially understandable in view of the known darkness and small size of Eastern buildings (see Luke 15:6). This prediction came to pass in all its terrible precision already at the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans and even more so at the time of the destruction of this city by the Romans. Blessed Jerome to this passage remarks: “Let us read the accounts of Josephus (Flavius), and there we will find a description of how even from dungheaps, caves, animal dens, and grave depressions they extracted princes, kings, and men of rank and priests, who under the influence of fear of death hid in these places” (p. 257. See also holy Cyril of Alexandria, p. 344). The deserved and merciless punishment will strike first “those who are settled on their dregs” (Hebrew hak-qofim al-shimerim – curdled on their lees), saying in their heart: “The Lord does not do good, nor does He do evil.” The image here, as in similar words about Moab by the prophet (Jer 48:11), is apparently taken from aged wine which, once poured into a vessel, was not filtered from the sediment or poured into another vessel, and therefore invariably retained its characteristic smell and taste. So immobile, indifferent, and deaf to all exhortations and threats of the prophets are the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Making use of the goods of peace and neglecting all calls to repentance, they sank deeply into their sinful life and entirely ceased to fear God’s judgment. Explaining the words of the prophet under consideration 12b, blessed Theodoret says: “here he condemns those who reject Divine Providence, daring to say that everything is chance, affirming that God of all things neither benefits nor punishes” (p. 45). And according to blessed Jerome, they will be visited with God’s wrath “those who, setting aside Divine Providence, said that God is not the author of good for the good people, nor of evil – for the evil, but everything is governed by the will of chance and carried about by undefined casualness” (p. 257). Such thoughts and convictions essentially bordered on unbelief (see Ps 9:25), were a practical denial of God’s existence. Indeed, the prophets of God themselves present as the strongest proof of the worthlessness of idols the fact that they can neither cause harm nor do good (Isa 41:23; Jer 10:8); was it not an extreme expression of disbelief on the part of the inhabitants of Jerusalem when they blasphemously attributed to Jehovah, the one true God and Judge of the world, the same property of inactivity which constitutes an undoubted attribute of idols and serves as the most reliable sign that they are inanimate? Obviously, the religious indifference mentioned by the prophet in v. 6 toward God and religion in many was hidden disbelief in God’s existence. In the text of the LXX-ists the Hebrew expression “hak-qofim al-shimerim” corresponds to words of entirely different meaning and sense: τοὺς καταφρονοῦντας ἐπὶ τὰ φυλάγματα αὐτῶν, Slavonic: “those caring not for their guard.” This same reading is presumed in their commentaries by holy Cyril of Alexandria and blessed Theodoret. “By guards,” says the latter, “he means what is established by law; the law commands to keep” (p. 45). And holy Cyril of Alexandria understands guards or in the general sense of the laws appointed for fulfillment in a given situation, or in particular the priestly ordinances (p. 344). Attempts to explain the origin of so essential a variant in the Greek text, made by various scholars, do not achieve their aim; in any case, the originality here is more on the side of the Hebrew Masoretic text than the LXX translation (see Mr. Turnin, pp. 46–47). The persisting of the inhabitants of Jerusalem in disbelief, impenitence, and vices will inevitably lead, as the prophet says with complete force and persuasiveness in v. 13, to swift and complete deprivation of them of all material well-being. In this the threat of the prophet – about the impending deprivation for the people of Jerusalem of the enjoyment of wealth, property of all kinds, houses, vineyards, and wine – is expressed by him in that very form which has its beginning still from the reproachful speech of Moses (Deut 28:20) and then appears repeatedly in the reproachful speeches of the prophets (for example Amos 5:11; Mic 6:15; etc.). Having depicted thus far the religious-moral state of his contemporaries and shown for them the inevitability of God’s punishment, the prophet now, in vv. 14–17, draws a general threatening picture of “the day of the Lord.” The characterization of the latter, made by the prophet in expressions interrupted and powerful, is classical in its expressiveness and force, and in essence represents an unfolding of what was said of “the day of the Lord” in v. 7.

“Zephaniah 1:14. The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening greatly: the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man cries out there!” “Zephaniah 1:15. A day of wrath – that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of wastement and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness,” “Zephaniah 1:16. a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the high towers.” “Zephaniah 1:17. And I will bring distress on humanity, and they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.” The internal causal connection of the new and final section of the chapter with the preceding is shown by the placing in some Hebrew manuscripts at Kennicott (for example ms. 150) of the causal conjunction ki, the causal conjunction is also found in the Greek text of the LXX – ὅτι or διότι, as also in the German translation (denn). In contrast to the persistence of the Jews in disbelief and lawlessness, as also in complete indifference and full carelessness toward the prophetic exhortations and threats, with incredible swiftness will approach the day of the revelation of God’s terrifying judgment: “the day of the Lord is near, the day is hastening greatly” (14a). “The prophet called the day great because those to be subjected to it will experience not some light correction, but decisive punishment” (blessed Theodoret, p. 45). He calls this day swift, nimble, “as one that is to come without any delay and is to reveal itself in a short time” (holy Cyril of Alexandria, p. 348). In depicting the horrors of this day the prophet first names (14b) the military cry of the heroes – the enemies who have broken into Judea as the executors of the judgment predetermined by God. This picture and the very form of speech resemble similar prophetic depictions, for example, in the prophet Nahum (Zeph 1:7), in the prophet Isaiah (Nah 3:2). The further characterization of the day of Jehovah, vv. 15–16, consists of all possible calamities that will rush in one stream upon the nation subjected to God’s judgment, within whose limits enemy forces have already entered. Here are woven together into one terrible picture such heavy disasters as the confined position and all possible deprivations of the besieged, desolation and destruction of the country, threatening atmospheric phenomena, the horrors of assault and bloodshed. Although for the individual expressions of this characterization numerous parallels can be indicated from other prophetic and in general sacred writings, the speech of the prophet Zephaniah loses nothing because of this in unusual force of depictiveness and artistry. The general name of the fateful day – “the day of wrath,” yom ezrah – that is, God’s wrath (compare Isa 13:3; Isa 13:9; Ezek 21:36 etc.), as the ultimate cause and sole source of all other various disasters of this day. Dies irae dies illa (Vulg) – behold the classical definition of the day of the Lord. A more detailed disclosure of this general definition is given by the prophet in the form of a whole series of paired words of synonymous meaning, which imparts to the entire speech extraordinary expressiveness and poetic charm. The first pair of words: tzarah, θλῖψις, tribulatio, sorrow, and – metzoukah, LXX: ἀνώγκη, Vulg.: angustia, Slavonic: need, Russian: distress (compare Ps 77:49) means chiefly that inner state of sorrow and depression in the one punished by God which is an echo in his soul of various external disasters (see Rom 2:9). The second pair – cognate words shoah and meshoe – ἀωρία and ἀφανισμός, Slavonic: day of devastation and vanishing, Vulg.: calamitas, miseria, Russian: wastement and desolation. By the combination of these two concepts the prophet expresses most fully the thought of complete emptiness (compare Job 15:24) awaiting Judea. The second half of v. 15 is formed by four synonymous words expressing the idea of darkness, dimming, and all these words are found in the prophet Joel’s depiction of “the day of the Lord” (Job 30:3). Hebrew: hoshekh (darkness), aphelah (thick darkness), anan (cloud), arafel (darkness); Greek: γνόφος, σκότος, νεφέλη, ὀμίχλη, and Latin: tenebrae, caligo, nebula, turbo – all express various shades of the concept of darkness, gloom, storm, which all, according to biblical understanding, is a manifestation not only of an extraordinary manifestation of Jehovah in the world in general (as at Sinai, Joel 2:2), but and preeminently of the punitive actions of God’s righteousness and judgment (Deut 5:19; Ps 96:2-4; Amos 5:18; Joel 2:2 etc.). And if light is a synonym for life and joy (Ps 35:10), then darkness always served as a synonym for sorrows of all kinds and death itself. “By darkness, gloom, cloud, and thick darkness – says blessed Theodoret, – the prophet names the approach of disasters, at the coming of which the sun will not shine brightly for those looking upon it on a clear day; but all will appear full of darkness” (p. 46). – Verse 16 indicates the objective cause of unbearable sufferings awaiting the Jews – in the horrors of the assault of Jewish cities with their fortifications; “the day of the Lord” will be “a day of trumpet” and battle cry (shofar uteruah, compare Josh 6:19; Judg 7:17-22; Amos 1:14) against the fortified cities and high towers (more precisely: corners, pinnot). “Can one doubt,” remarks to this place holy Cyril of Alexandria, “that the attack of enemies will be unbearable both for cities very populous and for those expert in military art? And to other cities, although they might be surrounded by walls of fortifications, he declared that the day of the Lord will be a day of trumpet and outcry against the strong cities and against the high corners. He calls cities strong those abounding in brave men and having very many people capable of war. By high corners he means cities fortified by walls; for always on the walls of fortresses corners protrude upward and rise into towers, which are higher than other buildings” (p. 349). Verse 17. All these strong fortifications will not save the Jews from the enemy, especially since under the weight of disasters they will lose the ability to act wisely (see Nah 2:5); in fulfillment of the terrible prophecy of Moses (Deut 28:29-30), they will be visited with both spiritual and bodily blindness, and they themselves will persistently strive toward their destruction (compare Jer. chs. XXVII–XXVIII; XXXII–XXXIV; XXXVI–XXXIX; XLII–XLIII). The final assault of the cities of Judea will be accompanied by terrible bloodshed, so that through the streets of the cities instead of dust there will be poured an ocean of blood, and instead of dung there will lie corpses (compare Jer 25:32-33), “that is, they will not be granted even that which is established by law: they will have no burial,” (blessed Theodoret), which the Hebrews feared above all (Ps 78:2; Jer 22:18-19 etc.).

Zephaniah 1:18. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath, and in the fire of His jealous anger all this earth will be consumed, for a sudden end, indeed a sudden destruction, He will accomplish upon all the inhabitants of the earth. The prophet again proclaims the inevitability and swiftness of the destruction of the Jewish people. “And wealth will not help the wealthy; because they will not obtain by money deliverance from disasters, but as if by fire, they will be destroyed by God’s wrath, which will subject those inhabiting the earth to sudden destruction. So he threatens them with sorrows, and then offers them an exhortation to resort to repentance” (blessed Theodoret, p. 46). * * * that is, Dalmatia, where the city of Stridon was located, where blessed Jerome was born