Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zephaniah 3:7
I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, [and] corrupted all their doings.
7. God’s purpose in these judgments on the nations was that Israel should take warning from them and receive instruction.
I said ] Or, I thought; Jer 3:19. For their dwelling read her dwelling.
howsoever I punished them ] Perhaps: according to all that I have appointed concerning her. The words seem to explain the preceding “that her dwelling should not be cut off.” This destruction of her place of abode is what the Lord has appointed for her. His desire and nope was that she would receive instruction so that her dwelling place should remain for ever. Instead of “her dwelling-place” Sept. reads “from her eyes” (with a difference of one letter). So Wellhausen: she will receive instruction, and that which I have commanded her will never be cut off (fade) from her sight, i.e. she will continually keep before her eyes God’s commandments. For the meaning “I have commanded her” instead of “appointed concerning her” he cites Job 36:23; 2Ch 36:23; Ezr 1:2.
rose early, and corrupted ] i.e. corrupted with eagerness. The phrase is a favourite one with Jeremiah, e.g. Jer 7:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I said, surely thou wilt fear Me – God speaks of things here, as they are in their own nature. It could not but be, that in the very presence of the Hand of God, destroying others but as yet sparing them, they must learn to fear Him; they must stand in awe of Him for His judgments on others; they must be in filial fear of Him for His loving longsuffering toward themselves. Thou wilt receive instruction, corrected and taught through Gods correction of others and the lighter judgments on themselves, as Solomon says, I looked, I set my heart: I saw, I received instruction Pro 24:32. He saith, receive, making it mans free act. God brings it near, commends it to him, exhorts, entreats, but leaves him the awful power to receive or to refuse. God speaks with a wonderful tenderness. Surely thou wilt stand in awe of Me; thou wilt receive instruction; thou wilt now do what hitherto thou hast refused to do. There was (so to speak) nothing else left for them, in sight of those judgments. He pleads their own interests. The lightning was ready to fall. The prophet had, in vision, seen the enemy within the city. Yet even now God lingers, as it were, If thou hadst known in this thy day, the things which are for thy peace Luk 19:42.
So their – (her) dwelling should not be cut off His own holy land which He had given them. A Jew paraphrases , And He will not cut off their dwellings from the land of the house of My Shechinah (Gods visible presence in glory). Judah, who was before addressed thou, is now spoken of in the third person, her; and this also had wonderful tenderness. It is as though God were musing over her and the blessed fruits of her return to Him; it shall not be needed to correct her further. Howsoever I punished them: literally, all (that is, all the offences) which I visited upon her, as God saith of Himself, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children Exo 20:5; Exo 34:7; Num 14:18, and this is mostly the meaning of the words visit upon. Amid and not withstanding all the offences which God had already chastised, He, in His love and compassion, still longeth, not utterly to remove them from His presence, if they would but receive instruction now; but they would not. How often, our Lord says, would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not Mat 23:37. But indeed, probably, Of a truth (it is a word strongly affirming what follows) they rose early, they corrupted all their doings; God gave them His warnings, awaited the result; they lost no time, they began with morning light; they hasted to rise, burdened themselves, made sure of having the whole day before them, to – seek God as He had sent His prophets, rising early and sending them? Jer 7:13, Jer 7:25; Jer 11:7; Jer 26:5; Jer 29:19.
No, nor even simply to do ill, but of set purpose. to do, not this or that corruptly, but to corrupt all their doings. Jerome: They with diligence and eagerness rose early, that, with the same haste wherewith they ought to have returned to Me, they might shew forth in deed what they had conceived amiss in their mind. There are as many aggravations of their sin as there are words. The four Hebrew words bespeak eagerness, willfulness, completeness enormity, in sin. They rose early, themselves deliberately corrupted, of their own mind made offensive, all their doings, not slight acts, but deeds, great works done with a high hand .
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. Surely thou wilt fear me] After so many displays of my sovereign power and judgments.
But they rose early] And instead of returning to God, they practised every abomination. They were diligent to find out times and places for their iniquity. This is the worst state of man.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I said; I thought, (speaking as man would,) I concluded what was likely, what I might expect.
Surely thou, O Jerusalem, O Judah, wilt fear me, for the many and great judgments executed upon others in thy sight; thou wilt fear, by sinning still, to provoke me.
Thou wilt receive instruction; wilt learn thy duty, to do it; thy danger, to prevent it; thy sins, to repent of them; thy ways, to amend them.
So their dwelling, houses, villages, Jerusalem,
should not be out off, sacked and burned,
howsoever I punished them; whatever I had done against them, however I had chastised them, had they been bettered, humbled, and amended, I would have spared, not destroyed utterly.
But they rose early; but they grew worse, more eager in the pursuit of their vile courses; as if the day would be too short for their sins, they rise early, and begin betimes.
Corrupted all their doings; designedly and out of set purpose did worse and worse, when smitten they revolted more and more, Isa 1:5.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. I said, Surely, c.Godspeaks after the manner of men in condescension to man’s infirmitynot as though God was ignorant of the future contingency, but intheir sense, Surely one might have expected ye would undersuch circumstances repent: but no!
thouat least, OJerusalem! Compare “thou, even thou, at least in this thyday” (Lu 19:42).
their dwellingthesanctuary [BUXTORF].Or, the city. Compare Jesus’ words (Lu13:35), “Behold, your house is left unto youdesolate” (Lev 26:31; Lev 26:32;Psa 69:25); and used as to thetemple (Mic 3:12). “Their”is used instead of “thy”; this change of person impliesthat God puts them to a greater distance.
howsoever I punishedthemHowsoever I might have punished them, I would not have cutoff their dwelling. CALVIN,”Howsoever I had marked them out for punishment” because oftheir provocations, still, if even then they had repented, taught byMy corrections, I was ready to have pardoned them. MAURER,”Altogether in accordance with what I had long ago decreed(ordained) concerning you” (De28:1-14, and, on the other hand, Deu 28:15-68;Deu 27:15-26). EnglishVersion, or CALVIN’Sview, is better.
rose early, and corrupted,c.Early morning is in the East the best time for transactingserious business, before the relaxing heat of midday comes on. Thusit means, With the greatest earnestness they set themselves to”corrupt all their doings” (Gen 6:12Isa 5:11; Jer 11:7;Jer 25:3).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I said, Surely thou wilt fear me,…. This is spoken after the manner of men; as if God should say within himself, and reason in his own mind, upon a view of things, surely the people of the Jews will take notice of my judgments executed on other nations, and will stand in awe of me on account of them; and fear to offend me, lest the same calamities should come upon them; this, humanly speaking, might be reasonably thought would be the case:
thou wilt receive instruction; by these judgments, taking warning by them; repent, reform, and amend, and thereby escape the like:
so their dwelling should not be cut off; or, “its dwelling”; the dwelling of the city of Jerusalem, the houses in it; the dwelling places of the inhabitants of it; the singular being put for the plural; unless the temple should be meant, as Abendana interprets it; and so it may be rendered “his dwelling” c; their house, which was left desolate to them, because they feared not the Lord; nor received instruction by the example of others; nor repented of their sins, and altered their course of life; which, if done, their dwelling would have been preserved, Mt 23:38:
howsoever I punished them; or “visited” d them; chastised them in a gentle manner, in order to reform them, but in vain. Some render it, “all which I committed to them” e; the oracles of God, his word and ordinances, his promises, and the blessings of his goodness, which he deposited with them, in order to do them good, and bring them to repentance. The Targum is,
“all the good things which I have said unto them (or promised them), I will bring unto them;”
and to the same sense Jarchi. The goodness of God should have brought them to repentance, yet it did not:
but they rose early, [and] corrupted all their doings; they were diligent and industrious eager and early, in the commission of sins, in doing corrupt and abominable works; receiving and tenaciously adhering to the traditions of the elders; seeking to establish their own righteousness, not submitting to Christ’s; rejecting him the true Messiah; blaspheming his doctrines, despising his ordinances, and persecuting his people; besides other vices, which abounded among them; for which the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost, as expressed in the following verse, Zep 3:8.
c “habitaculum; [vel] habitatio ejus”, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Burkius “mansio ejus”, Cocceius. d “visitavi”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus. e “Omne id quod commendavi illi”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In Zep 3:7 and Zep 3:8 the prophet sums up all that he has said in Zep 3:1-6, to close his admonition to repentance with the announcement of judgment. Zep 3:7. “I said, Only do thou fear me, do thou accept correction, so will their dwelling not be cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning them: but they most zealously destroyed all their doings. Zep 3:8. Therefore wait for me, is the saying of Jehovah, for the day when I rise up to the prey; for it is my right to gather nations together, to bring kingdoms in crowds, to heap upon them my fury, all the burning of my wrath: for in the fire of my zeal will the whole earth be devoured.” God has not allowed instruction and warning to be wanting, to avert the judgment of destruction from Judah; but the people have been getting worse and worse, so that now He is obliged to make His justice acknowledged on earth by means of judgments. , not I thought, but I said. This refers to the strenuous exertions of God to bring His justice to the light day by day (Zep 3:5), and to admonitions of the prophets in order to bring the people to repentance. and dna are cohortatives, chosen instead of imperatives, to set forth the demand of God by clothing it in the form of entreating admonition as an emanation of His love. Laqach musar as in Zep 3:2. The words are addressed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem personified as the daughter of Zion (Zep 3:11); and , her dwelling, is the city of Jerusalem, not the temple, which is called the dwelling-place of Jehovah indeed, but never the dwelling-place of the nation, or of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The clause which follows, and which has been very differently interpreted, , can hardly be taken in any other way than that in which Ewald has taken it, viz., by rendering kol as the accusative of manner: according to all that I have appointed, or as I have appointed everything concerning them. For it is evidently impracticable to connect it with what precedes as asyndeton, because the idea of cannot be taken per zeugma from , and we should necessarily have to supply that idea. For hikkareth does not in any way fit in with , whether we take in the sense of charge, command, appoint (after Job 34:13; Job 36:23), or in that of correct, punish. For the thought that God will cut off all that He has appointed concerning Jerusalem, would be just as untenable as the thought that He will exterminate the sins that have been punished in Jerusalem. But instead of repenting, the people have only shown themselves still more zealous in evil deeds. Hishkm , to rise early, then in connection with another verb, adverbially: early and zealously. Hishchth , to act corruptly; and with alloth , to complete corrupt and evil deeds (cf. Psa 14:1). Jehovah must therefore interpose with punishment.
Zep 3:8 With the summons chakku l , wait for me, the prophecy returns to its starting-point in Zep 3:2 and Zep 3:3, to bring it to a close. The persons addressed are kol anve ha’arets , whom the prophet has summoned in the introduction to his exhortation to repentance (Zep 2:3), to seek the Lord and His righteousness. The Lord calls upon them, to wait for Him. For the nation as such, or those who act corruptly, cannot be addressed, since in that case we should necessarily have to take chakku l as ironical (Hitzig, Maurer); and this would be at variance with the usage of the language, inasmuch as chikkah lay e hovah is only used for waiting in a believing attitude of the Lord and His help (Psa 33:20; Isa 8:17; Isa 30:18; Isa 64:3). The l is still more precisely defined by , for the day of my rising up for prey. does not mean = (lxx, Syr.), or for a witness (Hitzig), which does not even yield a suitable thought apart from the alteration in the pointing, unless we “combine with the witness the accuser and judge” (Hitzig), or, to speak more correctly, make the witness into a judge; nor does stand for , in perpetuum, as Jerome has interpreted it after Jewish commentators, who referred the words to the coming of the Messiah, “who as they hope will come, and, as they say, will devour the earth with the fire of His zeal when the nations are gathered together, and the fury of the Lord is poured out upon them.” For “the rising up of Jehovah for ever” cannot possibly denote the coming of the Messiah, or be understood as referring to the resurrection of Christ, as Cocceius supposes, even if the judgment upon the nations is to be inflicted through the Messiah. means “for prey,” that is to say, it is a concise expression for taking prey, though not in the sense suggested by Calvin: “Just as lions seize, tear in pieces, and devour; so will I do with you, because hitherto I have spared you with too much humanity and paternal care.” This neither suits the expression chakku l , according to the only meaning of chikkah that is grammatically established, nor the verses which follow (Zep 3:9, Zep 3:10), according to which the judgment to be inflicted upon the nations by the Lord is not an exterminating but a refining judgment, through which He will turn to the nations pure lips, to call upon His name. The prey for which Jehovah will rise up, can only consist, therefore, in the fact, that through the judgment He obtains from among the nations those who will confess His name, so that the souls from among the nations which desire salvation fall to Him as prey (compare Isa 53:12 with Isa 52:15 and Isa 49:7). It is true that, in order to gain this victory, it is necessary to exterminate by means of the judgment the obstinate and hardened sinners. “For my justice (right) is to gather this.” Mishpat does not mean judicium , judgment, here; still less does it signify decretum , a meaning which it never has; but justice or right, as in Zep 3:5. My justice, i.e., the justice which I shall bring to the light, consists in the fact that I pour my fury upon all nations, to exterminate the wicked by judgments, and to convert the penitent to myself, and prepare for myself worshippers out of all nations. is governed by . God will gather together the nations, to sift and convert them by severe judgments. To give the reason for the terrible character and universality of the judgment, the thought is repeated from Zep 1:18 that “all the earth shall be devoured in the fire of His zeal.” In what follows, the aim and fruit of the judgment are given; and this forms an introduction to the announcement of salvation.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(7) I said, Surely thou wilt fear me . . .Better, I said, Wouldest thou only fear me? wouldest thou receive correction? then should her dwelling-place not be destroyed, according to all that I have appointed for them; but they only speeded their infamous doings. Our Saviours lamentation over Jerusalem in Mat. 23:37 naturally suggests itself.
All that I have appointedi.e., in the way of punishment.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Zep 3:7. Thou wilt receive instruction Thou, that is, Jerusalem, whom, nevertheless, the examples of the neighbouring nations, whom God had destroyed, Zep 3:6 profited not. Instead of, But they rose early, &c. Houbigant reads, But they delayed not to worship their vain gods.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1229
WHAT RECOMPENCE WE MAY EXPECT FOR OUR NEGLECT OF GOD
Zep 3:7-8. I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey.
IN great national calamities we are apt, for the most part, to overlook the hand of God, and to trace events only to second causes, or to ascribe them to mere chance. But whatever there be either of good or evil in the city, God must be acknowledged as the doer of it. Moreover, in whatever he does, he has some fixed design: and to answer that design should be the labour of all his creatures. Now the general design of his judgments is, to awaken the inhabitants of the earth from their torpor, and to teach them righteousness: and if smaller judgments produce not this effect upon us, we may expect heavier to ensue. One very important object to be attained by cutting off the nations around Juda, and by sending the ten tribes into captivity in Assyria, was to reform his more peculiar people, the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. And as his people were far from improving his judgments for that end, he declared that he would visit them in a way suited to display the enormity of their guilt, and the riches of that grace which they had so abused.
In order to accommodate this subject to the present occasion, we shall consider,
I.
What God has been expecting from us
Dreadful have been the judgments which God has inflicted on the surrounding nations
[To whatever part of Europe we direct our attention, we shall see that the different nations have, during the last twenty years, been visited with calamities of a most afflictive kind: but more particularly, the recent devastation of Russia, the destruction of its ancient capital by fire, and the total annihilation of the French army in the space of a few weeks, are events that demand particular notice at this time [Note: In October, 1813.]. Indeed, with the exception of our highly-favoured land, there is scarcely a country to which, at some period of this war, we may not in a measure apply the words preceding our text; I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant.]
And has not God been speaking to us by these great events?
[Yes, surely: he has sought to reclaim us from our evil ways: he has said with himself, Surely thou wilt fear me; thou wilt receive instruction; so that thy dwelling shall not be cut off, howsoever I punish thee. Of us this improvement of his judgments might well be expected, not only on account of the peculiar protection which has been afforded us, but on account of the transcendant advantages which we enjoy in the knowledge of Gods word, and the ministration of his Gospel [Note: Here shew particularly wherein that improvement should have consisted; and our additional obligation to it, arising from our religious privileges: ver. 5.] And now, I ask, was not this expectation reasonable? and is not that complaint which God made against his people of old, in the fullest and strictest sense applicable to us [Note: Isa 5:3-4.]? ]
Alas! We have reason to blush and be confounded, when we reflect,
II.
How we have disappointed his expectations
Hear the accusation of God against us; They rose early, and corrupted all their doings
[There is no sin, in the commission of which we are not as eager as ever. It should almost seem that the goodness, and long-suffering, and forbearance of God, which should have led us to repentance, have produced rather the contrary effect, of lulling us to sleep in our sins. The accusation is more fully stated in a preceding verse [Note: ver. 2]: let us consider it more minutely: let us make use of it as a light by which to search and try our ways exceeding heinous?]
And is not the accusation applicable to all ranks and orders amongst us, even as it was against the Jews of old?
[We do not in general wish to speak of others: but in a view of national iniquities we are constrained to do so, especially where the prophets lead the way. Behold then what the prophet speaks respecting the princes, the judges, the prophets, and the priests of his day [Note: ver. 3, 4.]: we will not say that precisely the same iniquities prevail amongst those different orders in our land; but we appeal to you, whether any material change has taken place amongst the higher ranks; or whether those, whose duty it is to instruct and reform the world, have increased in activity and zeal, by any means to the extent that the occasion has called for? Alas! if we consult the records of the New Testament, and see what the Apostles preached, and how they lived, and then compare it with the lives and ministrations of the sacred order amongst us, we shall see cause to wonder that God has not already removed his candlestick from us, and left us in utter darkness
And well may the misconduct of these orders be more distinctly noticed, since on them depends, in so great a degree, the state of all the other classes of society. If all ministers would preach the Gospel with fidelity, and exemplify its holy precepts in their lives; and if our princes and nobility would take the lead in the great work of reformation; an immense change would soon be wrought in every quarter of the land: but if, for want of their exertions, the whole land continue in its iniquities, let them not wonder that their criminality is exposed, and that the judgments reserved for them are proportioned to the guilt which they contract.]
The disappointment of Gods expectations from us leads us naturally to consider,
III.
What we may expect from him
On this part of our subject we shall be led to extremely different views, according to the interpretation which we put on the concluding words of our text. Some understand the words thus: Ye have disappointed all my reasonable expectations; therefore expect from me the most tremendous judgments. Others justly observe, that the word therefore may properly be translated nevertheless [Note: That is evidently the true sense of the word in Mic 5:2-3.]; and that the sense is, ye have disappointed all my reasonable expectations; nevertheless that shall not induce me to alter my gracious purposes towards Jews and Gentiles, whom I will unite under one head, and sanctify as my peculiar people. In confirmation of this latter sense, we must say, that this is the very way in which God often introduces his most glorious promises [Note: Isa 43:22-26; Isa 57:16-17 and Hab 2:12-14.]; and that the two verses following our text seem to require it. But as we cannot certainly determine which of the senses is the right, we include both; and shew what we may expect from God,
1.
In a way of judgment
[Often does God denounce especial vengeance against those who have abused his mercies [Note: Isa 5:5-6. Jer 5:5-6.]: and well indeed may we expect to have it executed upon us: well may we be constrained to drink the dregs of that cup which has been put into the hands of the surrounding nations. And how fearful will be our state, if God pour upon us his indignation, even all his fierce anger! Let us not indulge in presumptuous security. Who that had been told a few years ago that either the ancient capital of the Russian empire, or that of the British empire, would before this be certainly destroyed by fire, would have imagined on which the lot should fall? O let us tremble for ourselves, and labour to fulfil the gracious designs of God, before his wrath come upon us to the uttermost ]
2.
In a way of mercy
[The Jews have an idea that the Messiahs advent was deferred on account of the wickedness of their nation: but it was not deferred; nor shall any thing prevent the final execution of Gods promises, in the restoration of the Jews, and the bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles [Note: ver. 9, 10.] No: we look for those events with full assurance that they shall be accomplished in due season. It is probable, indeed, that great calamities will precede those events [Note: Luk 21:25-28.]; and there is great reason to hope, that the calamities of the present day are preparing the way for them. May God hasten forward that glorious period! and then, grievous as have been the distresses of the world for so many years, we shall not think we have sustained one too much, if it has been accessary in any measure to the promotion of so blessed an end.]
Application
[Let us now drop all idea of national concerns, and come to those which are purely personal. Let us call to mind our personal transgressions, and reflect upon the personal judgments or mercies that await us And may God reap the fruit of all his kindness; and Christ see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied!]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Zep 3:7 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, [and] corrupted all their doings.
Ver. 7. I said, surely thou wilt fear me ] As in a school, when one boy is whipped the rest tremble; and as in the commonwealth, poena ad paucos, metus ad omnes; punishment for the few, fear for everybody so it should be in the Church. Other men’s woes should be our warnings; others’ sufferings our sermons; others’ lashes our lessons; God’s house of correction a school of instruction, where we should hear and fear, and do no more so, Deu 17:13 . He that trembleth not in hearing shall be crushed to pieces in feeling, said that martyr.
And receive instruction
So their dwelling should not be cut off
But they rose early and corrupted, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
corrupted, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Gen 6:12, same word). App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
fear
(See Scofield “Psa 19:9”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Surely: Zep 3:2, Isa 5:4, Isa 63:8, Jer 8:6, Jer 36:3, Luk 19:42-44, 2Pe 3:9
so: Jer 7:7, Jer 17:25-27, Jer 25:5, Jer 38:17
howsoever: 2Ch 28:6-8, 2Ch 32:1, 2Ch 32:2, 2Ch 33:11, 2Ch 36:3-10
they: Mic 2:1, Mic 2:2
corrupted: Gen 6:12, Deu 4:16, Hos 9:9
Reciprocal: Deu 32:5 – They have corrupted themselves Neh 1:7 – corruptly Psa 99:8 – thou wast Jer 5:3 – thou hast stricken Jer 6:8 – Be thou Jer 7:28 – correction Jer 17:23 – nor Eze 6:6 – all your Eze 24:13 – because Eze 30:3 – the time Hos 10:9 – did Mat 21:37 – They 1Co 10:6 – these Rev 2:22 – except
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zep 3:7. I said, etc., denotes that God expected the people to be impressed with the importance of His judgments, yet they continued on in their evil Course. Their keenness to do evil is indicated by the words they rose early and corrupted all their doings.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
3:7 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but {e} they rose early, [and] corrupted all their doings.
(e) They were most earnest and ready to do wickedly.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord expected the people of Jerusalem to learn from the fate of the Northern Kingdom and other fallen nations. They should respect Him, since He was behind the destruction, and obey His word. They should have done this so He would not similarly judge them, as He had threatened to do. But they were more eager to pursue sinful self-indulgence and to become thoroughly corrupt in their deeds.