Zephaniah 1:12 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Zephaniah 1:12
And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.
time · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
search
אֲחַפֵּ֥שׂ'a.cha.Pes
H2664
to seek · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common singular
Jerusalem
יְרוּשָׁלִַ֖םye.ru.sha.Lim
H3389
Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · proper noun, a place name
candles
בַּנֵּר֑וֹתba.ne.Rot
H5216
a lamp (i.e. the burner) or light (literally or figurat… · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
punish
וּפָקַדְתִּ֣יu.fa.kad.Ti
H6485
to visit (with friendly or hostile intent) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
men
הָאֲנָשִׁ֗יםha.'a.na.Shim
H582
a man in general (singly or collectively) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
settled
הַקֹּֽפְאִים֙ha.ko.fe.'Im
H7087
to shrink · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
lees
שִׁמְרֵיהֶ֔םshim.rei.Hem
H8105
something preserved · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
say
הָאֹֽמְרִים֙ha.'o.me.Rim
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
heart
בִּלְבָבָ֔םbil.va.Vam
H3824
the heart (as the most interior organ) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
good
יֵיטִ֥יבyei.Tiv
H3190
to be (causative) make well · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
evil
יָרֵֽעַya.Re.a'
H7489
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Amos 6:1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israe…
Jeremiah 48:11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gon…
Ezekiel 8:12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his i…
Ezekiel 9:9 Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of…
Malachi 3:14-15 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the…
Amos 9:1-3 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all o…
Psalms 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalms 94:7 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Zephaniah 1:7-13
Notice is here given to Judah and Jerusalem that God is coming forth against them, and will be with them shortly; his presence, as a just avenger, his day, the day of his judgment and his wrath, are not far off, Zep 1:7. Those that improve not the presence of God with them as a Father, but sin away that presence, may expect his presence with them as a Judge, to call them to an account for the contempt put upon his grace. The day of the Lord will come. Men have their day now, when they take a liberty to do what they please; but God's day is at hand; it is here called his sacrifice, a sacrifice of his preparing, for the punishing of presumptuous sinners is a sacrifice to the justice of God, so…
search . . . with candles--or lamps; so as to leave no dark corner in it wherein sin can escape the punishment, of which the Chaldeans are My instruments (compare Zep 1:13; Luk 15:8).
settled on their lees--"hardened" or crusted; image from the crust formed at the bottom of wines long left undisturbed (Jer 48:11). The effect of wealthy undisturbed ease ("lees") on the ungodly is hardening: they become stupidly secure (compare Psa 55:19; Amo 6:1).
Lord will not do good . . . evil--They deny that God regards human affairs, or renders good to the good; or evil to the evil, but that all things go haphazard (Psa 10:4; Mal 2:17).
Adam Clarke on Zephaniah 1:12
I will search Jerusalem with candles - I will make a universal and thorough search.
That are settled on their lees - Those who are careless, satisfied with the goods of this life; who trust in their riches, and are completely irreligious; who, while they acknowledge that there is a God, think, like the Aristotelians, that he is so supremely happy in the contemplation of his own excellences, that he feels it beneath his dignity to concern himself with the affairs of mortals.
John Gill on Zephaniah 1:12
And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles,.... To find out the sins of the inhabitants of it, and the authors of them, and punish them for them, however hid and concealed from the eyes of others, or thought to be: this must be understood consistent with the omniscience of God, who knows all persons and things; nothing is hid from him; men may fancy their sins are hid, being privately and secretly committed; but all will be manifest, sooner or later; if not now, yet at the day of judgment; and sometimes they are made manifest by God in this life, as here; for what the Lord here says he would do, he did it by instruments, by the Chaldeans, whom he sent t…
The Church Fathers
The Lord Jesus went into Jerusalem, into the temple. And when he had looked around upon all things, then, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve. The Lord went into Jerusalem and into the temple. He went in, and, having entered, what does he do? He looks about at everything. In the temple of the Jews he was looking for a place to rest his head and found none. "He had looked around upon all things." Why did it say, "He had looked around upon all that was there"? He was looking for the priests; he wanted to be with them, but he could not find them. He always had regard for priests. So he surveyed all that was about him, almost as though he were searching with a lantern; so says the prophet Zephaniah: "I will explore Jerusalem with lamps." In this same way, the Lord too looked around at everything with the light of a lamp. He was searching in the temple, but he did not find what he wanted. When it was already evening, he was still exploring everything; he was looking around upon all things. Even though his search was unfruitful, nevertheless, as long as there was light, he remained in the temple; but when evening had come, when the shades of ignorance had darkened the temple of the Jews, when it was the evening hour, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve. The Savior searched; the apostles searched; in the temple they found nothing, so they left it.
(Verse 12.) And it will be in that time, I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will visit those who are fixed in their filth; those who say in their hearts, the Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil. LXX: And it will be on that day, I will search Jerusalem with a lamp, and I will avenge against those who despise their guards, and say in their hearts, the Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil. In the time and day of the captivity of Jerusalem by the Babylonians or by the Romans (because they have forsaken the law of the Lord, and acted impiously towards the Lord their Creator), the Lord will search with a lamp all the hidden things of Jerusalem, and he will not allow any to escape unpunished. We read Joseph's histories, and there we find written about sewers, and caves, and caverns, and tombs, where princes and kings and powerful men and priests had hidden themselves in fear of death. And I will visit, he says, upon those who trust in their bodies, and in their strengths, which he scornfully calls filth or sins, in which they have been completely immersed: those who, rejecting providence, have said that neither a good nor an evil God is the author: that is, that he does not render good to the good, nor evil to the evil: but that all things are ruled by chance and carried by uncertain fate. But in the consummation of the world, because it is understood as the day of the Lord, the Lord will search Jerusalem, that is, his Church, with a lamp: and he will avenge himself upon the contemptuous men, who did not want to keep their guard, that is, they despised the commandments of the Lord, and, moreover, by reasoning, they sinned, saying, they blasphemed in their hearts: that doing good would be of no avail, nor would doing evil be harmful, because God would neither reward the good works, nor punish the evil. But rightly so, Jerusalem, that is, the Church (which was previously called Jebus, which is said to be trampled), when it was trampled by the Gentiles and was a mockery of demons, was called Jebus, and after the peace of the Lord began to dwell in it, and it became a place of peace, it took the name Jerusalem. Therefore, in the last times, which we have often mentioned, with increased wickedness, love will grow cold, and the light of the sun will withdraw from Jerusalem, and there will be such devastation that even the chosen ones of God will have…
Dictionary and topics
Lees — (Heb. shemarim), from a word meaning to keep or preserve. It was applied to “lees” from the custom of allowing wine to stand on the lees that it might thereby be better preserved (Isa. 25:6). “Men…
Blasphemy · 7:25;11:36,37; — 7:25;11:36,37;
Confidence · FALSE — FALSE
Emblems Of The Holy Spirit, The · Fire: Searching — Fire: Searching
Lamp · 62:1; — 62:1;
Skepticism · 14:1;53:1; — 14:1;53:1;
War · 28:25-68;32:30; — 28:25-68;32:30;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Zephaniah 1:12
12. And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.
12. Et erit in tempore illo, serutabor Ierusalem in lucernis, et visitabo super homines, qui congelati sunt in faecibus suis, et dicunt in cordibus suis, Neque benefaciet Iehova, neque malefaciet.
The Prophet addresses here generally the despisers of God, who were become hardened in their wickedness. But before he openly names them, he says that the visitation would be such, that God would search every corner, so that no place would remain unexplored. For to visi…
The debauchees and rioters generally will also not remain free from punishment. Zep 1:12. "And at that time it will come to pass, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and visit the men who lie upon their lees, who say in their heart, Jehovah does no good, and no evil. Zep 1:13. Their goods will become plunder, and their houses desolation: they will build houses, and not dwell (therein), and plant vineyards, and not drink their wine." God will search Jerusalem with candles, to bring out the irreligious debauchees out of their hiding-places in their houses, and punish them. The visitation is effected by the enemies who conquer Jerusalem. Jerome observes on this passage: "Nothing will be…
The Fish Gate was in the northern section of Jerusalem (Neh 12:39).
Rashi on Zephaniah 1:12
I will search Jerusalem with candles I will judge their iniquities strictly.
who are settled float on their lees. [As in] (II Kings 6:6) “And the axe blade floated,” rendered in Aramaic: וּקְפָא פַרְזְלָה.
who say in their heart, “The Lord shall do neither good...” to those who obey His will.
nor harm to those who transgress His will.