Zephaniah 1:17 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Zephaniah 1:17
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.
to cramp · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
men
לָאָדָ֗םla.'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
walk
וְהָֽלְכוּ֙ve.ha.le.Khu
H1980
to walk (in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
men
כַּֽעִוְרִ֔יםka.'iv.Rim
H5787
blind (literally or figuratively) · preposition with the article + adjective, masculine plural absolute
sinned
חָטָ֑אוּcha.Ta.'u
H2398
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
LORD
לַֽיהוָ֖הla.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
blood
דָּמָם֙da.Mam
H1818
blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or… · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
out
וְשֻׁפַּ֤ךְve.shu.Pakh
H8210
to spill forth (blood · conjunction + verb, pual sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
dust
כֶּֽעָפָ֔רke.'a.Far
H6083
dust (as powdered or gray) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
flesh
וּלְחֻמָ֖םu.le.chu.Mam
H3894
properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
dung
גֵּלֶלgêlel
H1561
dung (plural balls of dung)
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
Psalms 83:10 Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.
Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, a…
Jeremiah 2:17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?
Jeremiah 10:18 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so…
Micah 7:13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
Matthew 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
2 Peter 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Isaiah 29:10 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he c…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Zephaniah 1:14–end
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, Mat 24:27.
I. This day of the Lord is here spoken of as very near. The vision is not for a great while to co…
like blind men--unable to see whither to turn themselves so as to find an escape from existing evils.
flesh--Hebrew, "bread"; so the Arabic term for "bread" is used for "flesh" (Mat 26:26).
Adam Clarke on Zephaniah 1:17
They shall walk like blind men - Be in the most perplexing doubt and uncertainty; and while in this state, have their blood poured out by the sword of their enemies, and their flesh trodden under foot.
John Gill on Zephaniah 1:17
And I will bring distress upon men,.... Not upon men in general, but particularly on the men of Judea, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; and especially those that were in the fenced cities and high towers; and who might think themselves safe and secure; but, being besieged, should be distressed with famine and pestilence, and with the enemy; and more especially when stormed, and a breach made, and the enemy just entering:
that they shall walk like blind men; not knowing which way to go, where to turn themselves, what methods to take, or course to steer, no more than a blind man. The phrase is expressive of their being at their wits' ends, void of all thought and consultation:
because they have…
(Verse 17, 18.) And I will trouble the people, and they shall walk as blind, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their bodies like dung; but their silver and gold shall not be able to save them in the day of the Lord's wrath, and all the earth shall be devoured by the fire of his zeal: for he will make a speedy consumption of all the inhabitants of the earth. LXX: And I will trouble the people, and they shall walk as blind, because they have sinned against the Lord, and he shall pour out their blood like dust, and their flesh like the dung of oxen; and their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's anger, and all the earth shall be consumed by the fire of his zeal: for he will make a speedy and complete destruction upon all the inhabitants of the earth. It is not difficult to say, according to the previous meaning, that Jerusalem, which endured because of the cross of the Lord, has suffered: for the visitation of the Lord has departed from it, and all men in Judea have been troubled, and because of the greatness of the affliction they have walked like blind men, not knowing what to do. And they have suffered this because they have sinned against the Lord, that is, against the Son of God. For because they have shed the blood of the prophets and the blood of Christ, their blood has been poured out like the earth in the whole region, and their bodies have remained unburied, like dung upon the face of the earth. Those who amassed great wealth through excessive greed, hoarding silver and gold, were unable to free themselves from the wrath of the Lord on the day of judgment. For the fire of the Lord's zeal burned against them and consumed the entire province. And there was no respite in their midst, for forty-two years after the crucifixion of the Lord, Jerusalem was surrounded by an army and its downfall came swiftly, not only for Jerusalem but also for all the inhabitants of the land of Judaea. But in the end, whether of the world or of each individual, all men who remained as men will be troubled, and the dead will be like men. And they will walk as blind, for they have lost the light of virtues, and they will not have a place for repentance: and they will suffer these things because they have sinned against the Lord. For if the Lord is justice, truth, holiness,…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Anger Of God, The · Specially reserved for the day of wrath — Specially reserved for the day of wrath
War · 28:25-68;32:30; — 28:25-68;32:30;
Wicked (People) · .Blind people — .Blind people
Wicked, The, Are Compared To · Blind, The — Blind, The
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).
John Calvin on Zephaniah 1:17
Zephaniah 1:17
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.
17. Et coarctabo hominem (vel, homines,) et ambulabunt tanquam caeci, quia contra Iehovam impie egerunt; et fundetur sanguis quasi pulvis; et caro eorum erit tanquam stercora.
He confirms what I have already stated--that though other enemies, the Assyrians or Chaldeans, attacked the Jews, yet God would be the principal leader of the war. God then claims here for himself what the Jews transferred to their earthly enemies: and the Prophet has already often called it the day of Jehovah;…
In the midst of this tribulation the sinners will perish without counsel or help. Zep 1:17. "And I make it strait for men, and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Zep 1:18. Even their silver, even their gold, will not be able to save them on the day of Jehovah's fury, and in the fire of His wrath will the whole earth be devoured; for He will make an end, yea a sudden one, to all the inhabitants of the earth." והצרתי reminds of the threat of Moses in Deu 28:52, to which Zephaniah alluded in Zep 1:16. And in הלכוּ כּעורים the allusion to Deu 28:29 is also unmistakeable. To walk like th…
grope around like the blind: An example of God’s justice (see also Rom 1:21-32). Because God’s people were blind ethically and spiritually (see Exod 23:8; Rom 2:19; 1 Jn 2:11) and had sinned against the Lord and his commandments, they would incur the just penalties specified in God’s covenant with them (Deut 28:28-29).
Rashi on Zephaniah 1:17
And I will bring distress upon men Upon Israel, who is called “man.”
and their flesh their flesh. In Arabic, flesh is called al laham.
like dung dung.
