Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zephaniah 1:14
The great day of the LORD [is] near, [it is] near, and hasteth greatly, [even] the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
14. The great day of the Lord is near ] The day is called “great and terrible,” Joe 2:31; Mal 4:5, and is always represented as near, Isa 13:6; Joe 2:1; Joe 2:11 (see notes on Zep 1:7).
Even the voice of the day ] Rather as an exclamation: hark! the day of the Lord! or, the sound of the day of the Lord!
shall cry there bitterly ] lit. crieth out there the scene being before the prophet’s view. It is not necessary to take there in a temporal sense, then, a meaning not quite certain even in Pro 8:27 (cf. Jdg 5:11; Hos 10:9; Psa 14:5; Psa 66:6; Psa 133:3). As to the idea expressed comp. Isa 13:7-8, “all hands shall be feeble and every heart of man shall melt; and they shall be dismayed.” Jer 30:5-7. With “crieth out bitterly” cf. Isa 33:7, “the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14 18. The terrors of the Day of the Lord
The day of the Lord is described as a day of battle and assault upon the fenced cities, but also as a day of darkness and supernatural terrors. In Arabic the term “day” often means “battle-day,” as the “day of Bedr,” and this may have been its original application in Hebrew; cf. Isa 9:4, “in the day of Midian.” The day of the Lord is the day of His self-revelation to judge evil and bring His work of redemption among men to completion. On the one side His revelation of Himself fills men with terror and anguish, on the other side it is the cause of universal gladness, for the oppressions under which the world groaned come to an end and the reign of God begins: “The Lord is King! let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the isles be glad for he cometh to rule the earth; he shall rule the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity” (Psa 97:1; Psa 98:9). Sometimes the terrors of the day of the Lord are represented as due to His manifestation of Himself and the convulsions of nature that accompany His appearing, “when he arises to shake terribly the earth” (Isa 2:10-22); at other times, besides the supernatural gloom and terrors that surround Him when He appears, He is represented as using some terrible distant nation as the instrument by which He executes His judgment (Isaiah 13, and the present passage). The judgment of the day of the Lord is a judgment on the known world, on Israel and the historical nations lying within its horizon, and the nation that executes the judgment is some fierce and wild people emerging from the dark places of the earth lying beyond the confines of the known world. There is thus a certain inconsistency in the representation: though the judgment be universal the nation that executes it does not come within its scope.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The great Day of the Lord is near – The prophet again expands the words of Joel, accumulating words expressive of the terrors of that Day, showing that though the great and very terrible Day of the Lord Joe 2:31, (Joel had said) a day of darkness and gloominess, of clouds and of thick darkness Joe 2:2, which was then coming and nigh at hand Joe 2:1, had come and was gone, it was only a forerunner of others; none of them final; but each, because it was a judgment and an instance of the justice of God, an earnest and forerunner of other judgments to the end. Again, a great Day of the Lord was near. This Day had itself, so to speak, many hours and divisions of the day. But each hour tolleth the same knell of approaching doom. Each calamity in the miserable reigns of the sons of Josiah was one stroke in the passing-bell, until the de struction of Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans, for the time closed it.
The judgment was complete. The completeness of that excision made it the more an image of every other like day until the final destruction of all which, although around or near to Christ, shall in the Great Day be found not to be His, but to have rejected Him. Jerome: Truly was vengeance required, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, whom they slew between the temple and the altar Mat 23:35, and at last when they said of the Son of God, His blood be upon us and upon our children Mat 27:25, they experienced a bitter day, because they had provoked the Lord to bitterness; a Day, appointed by the Lord, in which not the weak only but the mighty shall be bowed down, and wrath shall come upon them to the end. For often before they endured the wrath of the Lord, but that wrath was not to the uttermost. What need now to describe how great calamities they endured in both captivities, and how they who rejected the light of the Lord, walked in darkness and thick darkness, and they who would not hear the trumpet of the solemn feast-days, heard the shout of the enemy.
But of the fenced cities and lofty corner-towers of Judaea, which are until now destroyed even to the ground, the eyes, I deem, can judge better than the ears. We especially, now living in that province, can see, can prove what is written. We scarcely discern slight traces of ruins of what once were great cities. At Shiloh, where was the tabernacle and ark of the testament of the Lord, scarcely the foundations of the altar are shown. Rama and Bethoron and the other noble cities built by Solomon, are shown to be little villages. Let us read Joseplius and the prophecy of Zephaniah; we shall see his history before our eyes. And this must be said not only of the captivity, but even to the present day. The treacherous farmers, having slain the servants, and, at last, the Son of God, are prevented from entering Jerusalem, except to wail, and they purchase at a price leave to weep the ruin of their city, so that they who once bought the Blood of Christ, buy their tears; not even their tears are costless.
You may see on the day that Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by the Romans, a people in mourning come, decrepit old women and old men, in aged and ragged wretchedness, showing in their bodies and in their guise the wrath of the Lord. The hapless crowd is gathered, and amid the gleaming of the Cross of Christ, and the radiant glory of His Resurrection, the standard also of the Cross shining from Mount Olivet, you may see the people, piteous but unpitied, bewail the ruins of their temple, tears still on their cheeks, their arms livid and their hair disheveled, and the soldier asketh a guerdon, that they may be allowed to weep longer. And doth any, when he seeth this, doubt of the day of trouble and distress, the day of darkness and gloominess, the day of clouds and thick darkness, the day of the trumpet and alarm? For they have also trumpets in their sorrow, and, according to the prophecy, the voice of the solemn feast-day is turned into mourning. They wail over the ashes of the sanctuary and the altar destroyed, and over cities once fenced, and over the high towers of the temple, from which they once cast headlong James the brother of the Lord.
But referring the Day of the Lord to the end of the world or the close of the life of each, it too is near; near, the prophet adds to impress the more its nearness, for it is at hand to each; and when eternity shall come, all time shall seem like a moment, A thousand years, when past, are like a watch in the night Psa 90:4; one fourth part of one night.
And hasteth greatly – For time whirls on more rapidly to each, year by year, and when Gods judgments draw near, the tokens of them thicken, and troubles sweep one over the other, events jostle against each other. The voice of the day of the Lord. That Day, when it cometh, shall leave no one in doubt what it meaneth; it shall give no uncertain sound, but shall, trumpet-tongued, proclaim the holiness and justice of Almighty God; its voice shall be the Voice of Christ, which all that are in the graves shall hear and come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation Joh 5:28-29.
The mighty men shall cry there bitterly, for bitter is the remembrance of death to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions, unto the man that hath nothing to vex him, and that hath prosperity in all things (Ecclesiasticus 41:1); and, There is no mighty man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death; and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it Ecc 8:8. Rather, wrath shall come upon the kings of the earth, and the great men and the rich men and the mighty men, and they shall will to hide themselves from the Face of Him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great Day of His wrath is come: and who shall be able to stand? Rev 6:15-17.
The mighty men shall cry there bitterly – The prophet has spoken of time, the day of the Lord. He points out the more vividly the unseen sight and place, there; so David says, There they feared a fear Psa 14:5. He sees the place; he hears the bitter cry. So near is it in fact; so close the connection of cause and effect, of sin and punishment. There shall be a great and bitter cry, when there shall be no place for repentance. It shall be a mighty cry, but mighty in the bitterness of its distress. Mighty men shall be mightily tormented (Wisd. 6:6), that is, those who have been mighty against God, weak against Satan, and shall have used their might in his service.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Zep 1:14
The great day of the Lord is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord.
The comings of the Lord
The times of King Josiah, about 606 years before Christ, were times of much religious awakening, like our own. The Book of the Lord had been found and studied, the idols had been destroyed, the bones of false prophets and idolatrous priests publicly burnt. But under the outside, external improvement there remained an inner and obstinate corruption which resisted cure, and threatened ere long to break out in renewed acts of idolatry and profligacy. Against this the prophet Zephaniah was sent to raise a warning voice–to protest that the Mighty Lord was in the midst of His people, watching not only their public acts, but their private ways and thoughts. In the seemingly purged Holy City there were men who, in their heart of hearts, were practical atheists, men really careless about serving God, living secure in ease and plenty, not having God in all their thoughts, persuading themselves that the Great Ruler would take no notice of good or evil, and that a watchful, rewarding, and punishing providence was but an empty dream. The prophet denounces and warns all such. But alas! the prophets voice was disregarded. So Judah went into captivity, and the coming of the Lord was with awful vengeance. Bitter woe descended on the insensate people who wickedly despised their day of grace and warning. These things are written for our admonition. May we all profit by the Churchs faithful warnings! There is a tendency in manor of us to sink the future in the present, and to lull ourselves with the delusive notion that it will be all right at last; that God is love, and love will cover all our sins. Nevertheless it is our duty to proclaim in word and deed our faith in the Lords coming, in its nearness and its greatness. He who once came in the flesh will come again as our Judge. Yet mens lives are often a practical denial of this elementary foundation doctrine of Christianity. Some men say, No doubt there is a judgment, but it is going on continually from day to day now. The Judge is now at every mans door; He comes quickly indeed, for every action brings at once its immediate reward or immediate punishment. No doubt, in the main, this is true, but, brethren, the voice of conscience and the voice of God in His Word agree in telling us that the present judgments are but heralds of the future final one. When they are judgments now of pain and punishment, they are merciful judgments to turn sinners to repentance. But the future judgment will have still higher aim and purpose. To vindicate the ways of God to men, to finally put a stop to sin, and bring in everlasting righteousness. We Who really believe in the second coming of our Lord in glory to judgment, as we believe in His first coming as Man to live on earth in great humility for our sakes, should be diligent that we be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless. (Canon Emery, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. The great day of the Lord is near] It commenced with the death of the good king Josiah, who was slain by Pharaoh-necho at Megiddo, and continued to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The great day; not the day of general judgment, but the day in which the great God will bring his great armies against Judah and Jerusalem, and do great things by those armies.
Of the Lord; appointed, foretold, and now actually brought on them by the Lord.
It is near; very near; it is doubled to show the nearness of it, and to assure us it is so.
And hasteth greatly; your enemies eagerness for the prey, your sins and security, and the Lords justly provoked anger, hasten this day.
The voice; it is within hearing, the sound of it is in mine ears, methinks you might hear it also.
The mighty man, the valiant and stout-hearted among the Jews, they who should support others, shall be really to sink themselves, and as much need a cordial themselves.
Shall cry there bitterly; their courage broken, they shall cry out most vehemently, or like hopeless women.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. voice of . . . day of . . .Lordthat is, Jehovah ushering in that day with a roar ofvengeance against the guilty (Jer 25:30;Amo 1:2). They who will not nowheed (Zep 1:12) His voice byHis prophets, must heed it when uttered by the avenging foe.
mighty . . . shall cry . . .bitterlyin hopeless despair; the might on which Jerusalem nowprides itself, shall then fail utterly.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The great day of the Lord [is] near, [it is] near, and hasteth greatly,…. Not the day of judgment, but the day of God’s vengeance upon the Jews, which yet bore some resemblance to that day of the Lord, and it may be therefore so called; as the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans had some likeness to it, and therefore the signs of the one and of the other are given together by our Lord in
Mt 24:1 and this was a day in which he would do great things, by the Chaldeans, and against the Jews; and this is represented as very “near”; and repeated again for the confirmation of it, and to arouse the thoughtless and careless about it, and who put away this evil day far from them; yea, it is said to make great haste, and to fly away swiftly, even faster than time usually does; though in common it has wings ascribed unto it:
[even] the voice of the day of the Lord; in which the Lord’s voice will be heard; not his voice of grace and mercy, as in the day of salvation; but of wrath and vengeance, which will be terrible; hence it follows:
the mighty men shall cry there bitterly; not the voice of the mighty men besieging the city, making a hideous noise to animate the soldiers in making the assault, as some; but the mighty men within the city of Jerusalem besieged, who, when they see the city broken up, would be in the utmost terror, and cry bitterly, like women and children, being quite dismayed and dispirited; even the men of war upon the walls, and in the garrisons, with their officers and generals; and if this would be the case with them, how must it be thought to be with others, the weak and timorous?
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This judgment will not be delayed. To terrify the self-secure sinners out of their careless rest, Zephaniah now carries out still further the thought only hinted at in Zep 1:7 of the near approach and terrible character of the judgment. Zep 1:14. “The great day of Jehovah is near, near and hasting greatly. Hark! the day of Jehovah, bitterly crieth the hero there. Zep 1:15. A day of fury is this day, a day of anguish and pressure, a day of devastation and desert, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and cloudy night. Zep 1:16. A day of the trumpet and battering, over the fortified cities and high battlements.” The day of Jehovah is called “the great day” with reference to its effects, as in Joe 2:11. The emphasis lies primarily, however, upon the qarobh (is near), which is therefore repeated and strengthened by . is not a piel participle with the Mem dropped, but an adjective form, which has sprung out of the adverbial use of the inf. abs. (cf. Ewald, 240, e). In the second hemistich the terrible character of this day is described. before yom Y e hovah (the day of Jehovah), at the head of an interjectional clause, has almost grown into an interjection (see at Isa 13:4). The hero cries bitterly, because he cannot save himself, and must succumb to the power of the foe. Sham , adv. loci, has not a temporal signification even here, but may be explained from the fact that in connection with the day the prophet is thinking of the field of battle, on which the hero perishes while fighting. In order to depict more fully the terrible character of this day, Zephaniah crowds together in Zep 1:15 and Zep 1:16 all the words supplied by the language to describe the terrors of the judgment. He first of all designates it as yom ebhrah , the day of the overflowing wrath of God (cf. Zep 1:18); then, according to the effect which the pouring out of the wrath of God produces upon men, as a day of distress and pressure (cf. Job 15:24), of devastation ( and combined, as in Job 38:27; Job 30:3), and of the darkest cloudy night, after Joe 2:2; and lastly, in Zep 1:16, indicating still more closely the nature of the judgment, as a day of the trumpet and the trumpet-blast, i.e., on which the clangour of the war-trumpets will be heard over all the fortifications and castles, and the enemy will attack, take, and destroy the fortified places amidst the blast of trumpets (cf. Amo 2:2). Pinnoth are the corners and battlements of the walls of the fortifications (2Ch 26:15).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Judgment Predicted. | B. C. 612. |
14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. 15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. 17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD‘s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
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 of Jerusalem by the Romans is represented to be in our Saviour’s prediction concerning it, Matt. xxiv. 27.
I. This day of the Lord is here spoken of as very near. The vision is not for a great while to come, as those imagine who put the evil day far from them. Those deceive themselves who look upon it as a thing at a distance, for it is near–it is near–it hastens greatly. The prophet gives the alarm like one that is in earnest, like one that awakens a family with the cry of Fire! fire! when it is at the next door that the danger is: “It is near! it is near! and therefore it is high time to bestir yourselves, and do what you can for your own safety before it be too late.” It is madness for those to slumber whose damnation slumbers not, and to linger when it hastens.
II. It is spoken of as a very dreadful day. The very voice of this day of the Lord, the noise of it, when it is coming, shall be so terrible as to make the mighty men cry there bitterly, cry for fear as children do. It shall be a vexation to hear the report of it. In the last great day of the Lord the mighty men shall cry bitterly to rocks and mountains to shelter them; but in vain. Observe how emphatically the prophet speaks of this day approaching (v. 15): It is a day of wrath, God’s wrath, wrath in perfection, wrath to the utmost. It will be a day of trouble and distress to the sinners; they shall be in pain, and shall see no ways of easing or helping themselves. The miseries of the damned are summed up (perhaps with reference to this) in the indignation and wrath of God, which are the cause, and the tribulation and anguish of the sinner’s soul, which are the effect, Rom 2:8; Rom 2:9. It will be a day of trouble and distress to the inhabitants, and a day of wasteness and desolation to the whole land; that fruitful land shall be turned into a wilderness. It shall be a day of darkness and gloominess; every thing shall look dismal, and there shall not be the least gleam of comfort, or glimpse of hope; look round, and it is all black. It is a day of clouds and thick darkness; there is not only nothing encouraging, but every thing threatening; the thick clouds are big with storms and tempests.
III. It is spoken of as a destroying day, Zep 1:16; Zep 1:17. It shall be destroying, 1. To places, even the strongest and best fortified: A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, to break into them, and against the high towers, to bring them down; for what forts, what fences, can hold out against the wrath of God? 2. To persons (v. 17): “I will bring distress upon men, the strongest and stoutest of men; their hearts and hands shall fail them; they shall walk like blind men, wandering endlessly, because they have sinned against the Lord.” Note, Those that walk as bad men will justly be left to walk as blind men, always in the dark, in doubt and danger, without any guide or comfort, and falling at length into the ditch. Because they have sinned against the Lord he will deliver them into the hands of cruel enemies, that shall pour out their blood as dust, so profusely, and with as little regret, and their flesh shall be thrown as dung upon the dunghill.
IV. The destruction of that day will be unavoidable and universal, v. 18. 1. There shall be no escaping it by ransom: Neither their silver nor their gold, which they have hoarded up so covetously against the evil day, or which they have spent so prodigally to make friends for such a time, shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath. Another prophet borrowed these words from this, with reference to the same event, Ezek. vii. 19. Note, Riches profit not in the day of wrath, Prov. xi. 4. Nay, riches expose to the wrath of men (Eccl. v. 13.), and riches abused to the wrath of God. 2. There shall be no escaping it by flight or concealment; for the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy, and where then can a hiding-place be found? See what the fire of God’s jealousy is, and what the force of it; it will devour whole lands; how then can particular persons stand before it? He shall make riddance, a speedy riddance, of all those that dwell in the land, as the husbandman, when he rids his ground, cuts up all the briers and thorns for the fire. Note, Sometimes the judgments of God make riddance, even utter riddance, with sinful nations, a speedy riddance; their destruction is effected, is completed, in a little time. Let not sinners be laid asleep by the patience of God, for when the measure of their iniquity is full his justice will both overtake and overcome, will make quick work and thorough work.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Prophet in this verse expresses more clearly what I have already stated—That God would be the author of all the evils which would happen to the Jews; for as they grew more insensible in their sins, they more and more provoked God’s wrath against themselves. It is therefore no common wisdom to consider God’s hand when he strikes or chastens us. This is the reason why the Prophet now calls the attention of the Jews to God, that they might not fix their minds, as it is commonly done, on men only. At the same time, he tries to shake off their torpor by declaring that the day would be terrible, and that it was also now near at hand. We indeed know that hypocrites trifle with God, except they feel the weight of his wrath, and that they protract time, and promise themselves so long a respite, that they never awake to repentance. Hence the Prophet in the first place shows, that whatever evils then impended over the Jews were not only from men, but especially from God. This is one thing; and then, in order thoroughly to touch stupid hearts, he says, that the day would be terrible; and lastly, that they might not deceive themselves by vain flatteries, he declares that the day was at hand. These three things must be noticed in order that we understand the Prophet’s object.
But he says at the beginning of the verse, that the great day of Jehovah was nigh. In these words he includes the three things to which I have already referred. By calling it the day of Jehovah, he means, that whatever evils the Jews suffered, ought to have been ascribed to his judgment; and by calling it the great day, his object was to strike terror; as well as by saying, in the third place, that it was nigh. We hence see that three things are included in these words. But the Prophet more fully explains what might, on account of the brevity of his words, have seemed not quite clear.
Near, he says, is the day, and quickly hastens. Men, we know, are wont to extend time, that they may cherish their sins; for though they cannot divest themselves of every feeling as to religion, or shake it off, they yet imagine for themselves a long distance between them and God; and by such an imagination they find ease for themselves. Hence the Prophet declares the day to be nigh; and as it was hardly credible that the destruction of which he spake was near, he adds, that the day was quickly hastening; as though he had said, that they ought not to judge by the present state of things what God would do, for in a moment his wrath would pass through from east to west like lightning. Men need long preparation when they determine to execute their vengeance; but God has no need of much preparation, for his own power is sufficient for him when he resolves to destroy the wicked. We now, then, see why it was added by the Prophet, that the day would quickly hasten.
He now repeats that the day of Jehovah and his voice would cry out bitterly. I have stated three renderings as given by interpreters. Some read thus—The day of Jehovah shall be bitter; there the strong shall cry aloud. This meaning is admissible, and a useful instruction may from it be elicited; as though the Prophet had said, that no courage could bring help to men, or be an aid to them, against God’s vengeance. Others give this rendering, that the day would bitterly cry out, for there would be the strong, that is, the strength of enemies would break down whatever courage the Jews might have. But this second meaning seems forced; and I am disposed to adopt the third—that the voice of the day of Jehovah would bitterly cry out. And he means the voice of those who would have really to know God as a judge, whom they had previously despised; for God would then put forth his power, which had been an object of contempt, until the Jews had by experience felt it. (82)
As to the Prophet’s design, there is no ambiguity: for he seeks here to rouse the Jews from their insensibility, who had so hardened themselves against all threatening, that the Prophets were not able to convince them. Since, then, they had thus hardened themselves against every instruction and all warnings, the Prophet here says, that the voice of God’s day would be different: for God’s voice had sounded through the mouth of the Prophets, but it availed not with the deaf. An awful change is here announced; for the Jews shall then cry aloud, as the roaring of the divine voice shall then terrify them, when God shall really show that he is the avenger of wickedness—When therefore he shall ascend his tribunal, then ye shall cry. His messengers now cry to you in vain, for ye close up your ears; ye shall cry in your turn, but it will be in vain.
But if one prefers to take it as one sentence, The voice of the day of Jehovah, there strong, shall bitterly cry out, the meaning will be the same as to the main point. I would not, therefore, contend about words, provided we bear in mind what I have already said—that Zephaniah sets here the cry of the distressed people in opposition to the voices of the Prophets, which they had despised, yea, and for the most part, as it appears from other places, treated with ridicule. However this may have been, he indirectly condemns their false confidence, when he speaks of the strong; as though he had said, that they were strong only for their own ruin, while they opposed God and his servants; for this strength falls at length, nay, it breaks itself by its own weight, when God rises to judgment. It follows—
(82) The Rabbinical punctuation has destroyed the simplicity of this passage by connecting “bitter” with the latter clause. Jerome, Pagninus, Newcome, as well as the Septuagint, connect it with the former clause. The literal rendering of the two lines is as follows—
The voice of the day of Jehovah shall be grievous; Roar out there (or then) shall the brave.
“
The voice of the day,” etc., means the voice uttered on that day, as Drusius explains it. [ מר ] is no doubt “bitter;” but it is often applied in scripture to express what is grievous, afflictive, or sorrowful. If we render [ שט ], “there,” it refers to Jerusalem, verse 12; but it is sometimes used as an adverb of time, “then,” see Psa 14:5; Neh 3:15. “The meaning is,” says Drusius, “that the voice of that day, which they who excel in strength of mind and body shall utter, shall be bitter.” The whole verse is remarkably concise and emphatical,—
14. Nigh is the great day of Jehovah, Nigh and hastening quickly: The voice of the day of Jehovah shall be grievous; Roar out then shall the brave.
Then the following verse is not to begin, as in our version, which has been followed by Newcome and Henderson, “That day is a day of wrath,” but thus—
A day of wrath shall be that day.
This is the order of the original, and as there is no verb, it must be supplied and regulated as to its tense by the context.— Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) Even the voice of the day.Better, Hark to the day! What is heard is the cry of the baffled warrior, unable either to fight or flee.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(14-18) The judgment, in reference to its destructive character.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The terrors of the day of Jehovah, Zep 1:14-18.
In Zep 1:14 Zephaniah calls attention once more to the nearness of the day of Jehovah (compare Zep 1:7); in the succeeding verses he describes in detail its terrors. In it Jehovah will make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land. Earlier prophets had spoken of the darkness and despair of that day, but Zephaniah surpasses them all in vividness and awful grandeur.
The great day is near See on Zep 1:7; Joe 1:15; Joe 2:11; Joe 2:31. The imminence of the day of Jehovah and its terrible character are dwelt upon again and again in the prophetic writings. In this verse its nearness is emphasized; therefore, “is near” is repeated and strengthened by “hasteth greatly.” Bachmann says of 14b, “This sentence impresses one as being in absolutely hopeless confusion.” If one looks for smoothness of expression he will be disappointed; but if one takes into consideration the intensely emotional character of Hebrew prophecy, especially of the utterances announcing the doom of the nation, if one bears in mind that these words were spoken by men whose hearts were well-nigh breaking as they contemplated the approaching destruction, he will not be surprised when he discovers evidences of emotion even in the form of expression, an abrupt nervous style. If 14b is studied from this point of view the difficulties lose their terror. G.A. Smith, with his keen insight into the spirit of Hebrew prophecy, translates, “Hark! the day of Jehovah. A strong man there! crying bitterly!” The vision of the prophet beholds the agony and despair of the great day, he hears the cry of pain and distress from those who under ordinary circumstances are men of courage and might; as soon as he beholds the awful picture, he breaks forth in the agonizing cry of 14b.
Hark For this meaning of the word ordinarily translated “voice” see G.-K., 146b.
There On the field of battle where the terrible struggle rages.
Cry bitterly Because he cannot save himself and must go down before the terrible foe (compare Isa 13:7-8; Jer 30:5; Jer 30:7). In order to restore parallelism with 14a Marti changes the text of 14b so as to read, “Near is the bitter day of Jehovah; even the mighty man crieth bitterly.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zep 1:14. Even the voice of the day of the Lord For the message of the day of the Lord shall be bitter: The mighty man shall howl upon it. Houbigant. See 2Ki 21:14; 2Ki 21:26.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
O “The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. (15) That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, (16) A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. (17) And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. (18) Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.”
All these verses are to one and the same purport, namely, to intimate God’s judgments, and the total inability for any to resist them. Reader! what a blessed privilege is it for you, and for me, to read those solemn scriptures through the medium of the gospel. In this blessed gospel of the ever blessed God it is alone we discover how the aboundings of sin make way for the aboundings of grace. Sin was felt by all men in all ages; but the remedy to sin only discovered in the person, work, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rom 5:19-21 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Zep 1:14 The great day of the LORD [is] near, [it is] near, and hasteth greatly, [even] the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
Ver. 14. The great day of the Lord is near, it is near ] It is the “day of the Lord,” that fatal day appointed by him to ruin the nation; for with him it is all one, whether it be done against a nation or against a man only, Job 34:29 . Next, it is his great day; because therein the great God will set himself to do great matters: how much more at the day of judgment, called also “a great day,” Rev 6:17 ; Rev 16:14 .
This great day is near, yea, very near, it hasteth greatly
Even the voice of the day of the Lord
“ Fallor? an arma sonant? non fallimur, arma sonabant.
Mars venit, et veniens bellica signa dedit. ”
Jerome speaketh thus to himself, whether I eat, or drink, or sleep, methinks I hear that last trump sounding these words in mine ears, Surgite mortui, venite in iudicium,
The mighty man shall cry there bitterly
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The great day, &c. Compare Isa 22:5. Joe 2:1, &c.
is near, &c. Hebrew [is] near, near. Figure of speech Epizeuxis, for emphasis: i.e. very near.
mighty man. Hebrew. gibbor. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Zep 1:14-18
The Great day of Jehovah will be a Time of Horrid Distress
for the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah (Zep 1:14-18)
The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of Jehovah; the mighty man cries there bitterly (Zep 1:14).
While many cannot see that God would possibly do such horrible things to Judah and Jerusalem the prophet Zephaniah proclaims that the day draws very near.
The mighty man cries bitterly on this horrid day because all of his valiant efforts are vanity. No matter how hard he fights he shall not prevail against Jehovah. Jeremiah said that it was useless to resist Babylon (Jer 38:2) because it is Jehovah fighting against them (Jer 21:5).
That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements (Zep 1:15-16).
A vivid picture of the siege of Jerusalem and utter defeat is given. Gods wrath shall be poured out upon Jerusalem and the city will be laid waste. Upon this day there will be darkness, clouds of smoke from the burning of the walls and city, trumpets are sounding out alarms, the fortified city is falling and the high battlements (i.e., the corner towers) are no match for the invading Chaldeans. Jeremiah writes, The Lord hath trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah (Lam 1:15 b). Again, the prophet writes, The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. Jehovah hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger… (Lam 4:10-11).
And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovahs wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he will make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land (Zep 1:17-18).
The distress that accompanies the great day of Jehovah is due to mans sin. The peoples sin brings grievous deaths to all of Jerusalem (cf. Jer 16:4). There end will be terrible. Jeremiah recorded Gods words saying, And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall distress them (Jer 19:9).
The people of Jerusalem will find no savior in their riches when Gods wrath is poured out over Jerusalem.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
great: Zep 1:7, Jer 30:7, Eze 30:3, Joe 2:1, Joe 2:11, Joe 2:31, Mal 4:5, Act 2:20, Rev 6:17
it is: Eze 7:6, Eze 7:7, Eze 7:12, Eze 12:23, Amo 8:2, Phi 4:5, Jam 5:9, 2Pe 2:3
even: Zep 1:10, Isa 22:4, Isa 22:5, Isa 66:6, Jer 25:36, Joe 2:11, Joe 3:16, 1Th 4:16, Heb 12:26
the mighty: Isa 15:4, Isa 33:7, Jer 48:41, Rev 6:15-17
Reciprocal: Est 4:1 – and cried Isa 8:22 – look Isa 13:6 – Howl ye Jer 46:10 – the day Eze 13:5 – the day Hos 9:7 – days of visitation Joe 1:15 – the day of Joe 2:2 – A day of darkness Amo 5:18 – the day of the Lord is Zec 5:2 – flying Mal 4:1 – the day Mat 24:29 – shall the Mar 13:24 – General Act 2:19 – General Rev 3:11 – I come Rev 22:12 – I come
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zep 1:14. The great day of the Lord is near. Zephaniah wrote this in the days of Josiah which was less than a quarter of a century before the captivIty.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Zep 1:14-16. The great day of the Lord is near The time of Gods 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 day is a day of wrath, &c. That time will be a time of executing wrath. A day of wasteness and desolation Hebrew, , of tumult and devastation. A day of darkness and gloominess, &c. Of perplexity, terror, and dismay. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities A day of attacking and taking fortified cities and strong holds, the attacks on which were used to be made by the sound of trumpets; and probably trumpets sounded all the time of the attack, as also when an entrance was gained into them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:14 The great day of the LORD [is] near, [it is] near, and hasteth greatly, [even] the voice of the day of the LORD: {k} the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
(k) They that trusted in their own strength and condemned the Prophets of God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. The imminence and horrors of Judah’s judgment 1:14-18
Zephaniah’s third picture of the day of the LORD is that of a great battle.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Zephaniah reported that this great day of the Lord was near, very near, and coming very quickly. His hearers needed to realize that it would be a day in which Yahweh would act (cf. Zep 1:12). When it came, warriors would cry out bitterly because that day would involve fierce fighting. The first deportation of Judeans to Babylon came in 605 B.C. not many years from whenever Zephaniah must have first announced this message.