Woe to the city that is rebellious and defiled,
the oppressive city!
² She has not obeyed;
she has not accepted discipline.
She has not trusted in the Lord;
she has not drawn near to her God.
³ The princes within her are roaring lions;
her judges are wolves of the night,
which leave nothing for the morning.
⁴ Her prophets are reckless—
treacherous men.
Her priests profane the sanctuary;
they do violence to instruction.
⁵ The righteous Lord is in her;
he does no wrong.
He applies his justice morning by morning;
he does not fail at dawn,
yet the one who does wrong knows no shame.

⁶ I have cut off nations;
their corner towers are destroyed.
I have laid waste their streets,
with no one to pass through.
Their cities lie devastated,
without a person, without an inhabitant.
⁷ I thought: You will certainly fear me
and accept correction.
Then her dwelling place
would not be cut off
based on all that I had allocated to her.
However, they became more corrupt
in all their actions.
⁸ Therefore, wait for me—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
until the day I rise up for plunder.
For my decision is to gather nations,
to assemble kingdoms,
in order to pour out my indignation on them,
all my burning anger;
for the whole earth will be consumed
by the fire of my jealousy.

1) How do the actions of the political and religious leaders effect the residents of the city?
When political leaders are corrupt and greedy, lawlessness prevails. Justice is perverted. People cannot trust the leaders to govern them properly. When religious leaders seek their own ways instead of the Lord’s, the people soon stop seeking God as well, and therefore don’t accept His instruction. Israel and Judah had done exactly what God had instructed them not to do (Exodus 34:12-17) by choosing to worship false gods over Yahweh, the One True God. The book of Judges is replete with cycles of continuous sin, beginning with the Israelites’ disobedience to God’s command to drive out all the people living in the land that he promised to them. Evil people stayed in the land with their evil practices and the Israelites began to intermingle and intermarry. Throughout the ages, the effect of intermarriage with pagans has brought trouble to Israel. Not only have the children produced by these marriages been at war with Israel (Exodus 17:8) but the Israelites were influenced to accept and join in pagan worship (Judges 2:18-19). By the time of the writing of Zephaniah, the Israelites had been untrue to God for hundreds of years. The political and religious leaders had not been effectual in any effort they may have made to restore the Jews to pure worship of God alone.

2) What is the meaning of verses 6-7?
God had poured out His justice on several pagan nations near Israel as warnings to Israel that destruction would also come to them unless they returned to Him. But as we see here, the warnings were not heeded. Instead of renewing their reverence for and obedience to God, they continued in their evil. As the Life Application Study Bible note states: “The problem was that they had allowed sin to so harden them that they no longer cared to follow God. They refused to heed God’s warnings, and they refused to repent. The more God punished them, the more they sinned.”

3) What do we learn about God in this passage?
In verse 5 we learn that the Lord our God is righteous, perfect, and just. Praise Him for that!! These qualities are set in contrast to the behavior of the leaders of Jerusalem described in verses 3-4. This amplifies the “other”-ness of our God: He is not flawed and imperfect such as mortal man. He is powerful, as shown by His ability to destroy nations who have turned their backs to Him. Can I just say, it’s a good thing I don’t have that kind of power! I would wipe out highways full of unsafe drivers! He corrects – but only those people who accept correction, as seen in verses 2 and 7. This shows us that He doesn’t force himself or His will on anyone. He draws, but waits for us to come to Him; He warns, but waits for us to turn from our folly and sin. Lastly, we learn that God is jealous for His people. He has decided to consume the earth by His fire, which means that it will happen…we just aren’t certain when it will happen. This fire will purge all of the evil, leaving the faithful to live in constant communion with God (Revelation 20:7-9; 21:3).

1) How do the actions of the political and religious leaders effect the residents of the city?
Just as in times past, people in positions of authority set the tone for the behavior of the people. When government leadership has good, wise leaders, the people feel secure and happy. When leadership cares more for personal agendas or political advancement, people generally feel misled, used, and angry.
Religious leaders have an even greater effect on people. If their teachings are biblically-based and solid, they have security and can also offer that same kind of strong faith to others. If, on the other hand, they have begun to preach half-truths – which makes them a false teacher – they are very dangerous. See, unlike political leaders, the religious leaders hold in their hands the eternal fate of the people under their influence. This is why, dear ones, we must be very discerning (“wise as serpents”) and “test the spirits,” because it would be disastrous for us to be carried away from the Truth!

2) What is the meaning of verses 6-7?
Israel behaves like a pouty, rebellious child in these verses. The more they are punished, the more they sin. God says, “Do it my way.” But they say, “No! I want to do it my own way!” Isn’t this also true of us sometimes? I know that I am guilty. I talk myself into believing that God has no idea what life is like for me here and so, of course He wouldn’t understand why I choose to do what I do or how I do it. I allow myself to become blinded to the fact that He isn’t some distant, cosmic God, rather He’s a personal, intimate God as well. He’s a friend and a Father and a Counselor – if you and I allow Him access to our lives instead of holding onto our own control.

3) What do we learn about God in this passage?
God does not change, so He has the same character on this day that He did when Zephaniah wrote this book. (By the way, isn’t that AWESOME?) He still draws people to Himself, but now He uses those of us who have already come to Him instead of Old Testament type prophets. What a wonderful privilege! He has not relented on His plan to purge evil… The world is still waiting for the Lord to pour out His wrath on all nations. He has not done so yet because He is patient and is giving people time to repent (2 Peter 3:9). Yet that day will surely come ( 2 Peter 3:10). In view of its coming, Christians need to be holy in conduct and godly in character looking for and hastening that day by our prayers and preaching (2 Peter 3:11). The great outpouring of divine wrath on the earth predicted here will take place during the Tribulation, before our Lord returns to set up His kingdom (cf. Zephaniah 2:2; Zechariah 14:2; Revelation 16:14; Revelation 16:16). (from www.studylight.org; Thomas Constable commentary)

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We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources.  Just type in the verse you’re looking at and Boom! It’s right in front of you in English and Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament), which are the original languages the Bible was written in.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Find super awesome stuff like “origin”, “definition”, and even all the different ways that single word has been translated into English! If you want to be geeky, you can even click the word and hear its original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want to get more background on a word or phrasing or passage? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

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