Zephaniah 2:15

Zephaniah 2:15 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
• New International Version (NIV)This is the city of revelry that lived in safety. She said to herself, “I am the one! And there is none besides me.” What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts! All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists.
• English Standard Version (ESV)This is the exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, "I am, and there is no one else." What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild beasts! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.
• New King James Version (NKJV)This is the rejoicing city That dwelt securely, That said in her heart, “I am it, and there is none besides me.” How has she become a desolation, A place for beasts to lie down! Everyone who passes by her Shall hiss and shake his fist.

Context of Zephaniah 2:15

13The Lord will use his power against the north and destroy Assyria. He will turn Nineveh into a deserted ruin, a dried up wasteland like the desert. 14Flocks will lie down in it along with animals of every kind. Even pelicans and herons will nest on top of its columns. Listen! A bird will sing in a window. The doorway will be in ruins, because the Lord will expose the cedar beams. Is this the arrogant city? Is this the city that used to live securely, the city that used to think to itself, “I’m the only one, and no one else exists but me”? What a wasteland it is now, a resting place for wild animals! All who pass by it will hiss and make an obscene gesture.

Zephaniah 2:15 word by word

זֹ֠את הָעִ֤יר הָעַלִּיזָה֙ הַיּוֹשֶׁ֣בֶת לָבֶ֔טַח הָאֹֽמְרָה֙ בִּלְבָבָ֔הּ אֲנִ֖י וְאַפְסִ֣י ע֑וֹד אֵ֣יךְ׀ הָיְתָ֣ה לְשַׁמָּ֗ה מַרְבֵּץ֙ לַֽחַיָּ֔ה כֹּ֚ל עוֹבֵ֣ר עָלֶ֔יהָ יִשְׁרֹ֖ק יָנִ֥יעַ יָדֽוֹ׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• the rejoicingעַלִּיז‛allîyz · jubilantH5947
• cityעִיר‛îyr ‛âr ‛âyar · cityH5892
• that dweltיָשַׁבyâshab · to dwellH3427
• carelesslyבֶּ֫טַחbeţach · securityH983
• that saidאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• in her heartלֵבָבlêbâb · heartH3824
• none besideאֶ֫פֶס'ephes · endH657
• me: how is she become a desolationשַׁמָּהshammâh · horror: destroyedH8047
• a place for beastsחַיָּהchay · living thingH2416
• to lie down inמַרְבֵּץmarbêts · restingH4769
• every one that passeth byעָבַר‛âbar · to passH5674
• her shall hissשָׁרַקshâraq · to whistleH8319
• wagנוּעַnûa‛ · to shakeH5128
• his handיָדyâd · handH3027

Cross-references for Zephaniah 2:15

• Isaiah 10:12When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for all his boasting and all his arrogance.
• Isaiah 22:2You are a city filled with shouting, a town filled with noise and excitement. Your people weren’t killed with swords. Your dead didn’t die in battle.
• Isaiah 47:7You said, “I will always be a queen.” You didn’t carefully consider these things or keep in mind how they would end.
• Revelation 18:7She gave herself glory and luxury. Now give her just as much torture and misery. She says to herself, ‘I’m a queen on a throne, not a widow. I’ll never be miserable.’
• Isaiah 47:8Now then, listen to this, you lover of pleasure. You live securely and say to yourself, “I’m the only one, and there’s no one else. I won’t live as a widow. I won’t suffer the loss of children.”
• Ezekiel 28:2“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre, ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: In your arrogance you say, “I’m a god. I sit on God’s throne in the sea.” But you’re only human and not a god, although you think you are a god.
• Ezekiel 29:3Tell him, ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: I’m against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt. You are like a monster crocodile lying in the Nile River. You say, “The Nile River is mine. I made it for myself.”
• Isaiah 14:4Then you will mock the king of Babylon with this saying, “How the tyrant has come to an end! How his attacks have come to an end!”
• Lamentations 1:1“Look how deserted Jerusalem is! Once the city was crowded with people. Once it was important among the nations. Now it is a widow. Once it was a princess among the provinces. Now it does forced labor.
• Lamentations 2:1“Look how the Lord has covered the people of Zion with the cloud of his anger! He has thrown down Israel’s beauty from heaven to earth. He didn’t ⌞even⌟ remember his footstool on the day of his anger.
• Revelation 18:10Frightened by her torture, they will stand far away and say, ‘How horrible, how horrible it is for that important city, the powerful city Babylon! In one moment judgment has come to it!’
• 1 Kings 9:7then I will cut Israel out of the land I gave them. I will reject this temple that I declared holy for my name. Israel will be an example and an object of ridicule for all the people of the world.
• Job 27:23It claps its hands over him. It whistles at him from his own place.
• Psalms 52:6Righteous people will see ⌞this⌟ and be struck with fear. They will laugh at you and say,
• Lamentations 2:15Everyone who walks along the road shakes a fist at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Jerusalem’s people: ‘Is this the city they used to call absolutely beautiful, the joy of the whole world?’
• Ezekiel 27:36The merchants among the nations laugh at you. You have come to a terrible end, and you will never exist again.’ ”

Commentaries on Zephaniah 2:15

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15This is the rejoicing city - The city in which mirth, jocularity, and pleasure, reigned without interruption. And wag his hand - Will point her out as a mark and monument of Divine displeasure.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-15Verses 4-15 Those are really in a woful condition who have the word of the Lord against them, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. God will restore his people to their rights, though long kept from them. It has been the common lot of God's people, in all ages, to be reproached and reviled. God shall be worshipped, not only by all Israel, and the strangers who join them, but by the heathen. Remote nations must be reckoned with for the wrongs done…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 15ruin: The destruction was certain and could not be reversed (see Nahum 1:14; 2:13; 3:19). Zephaniah saw no future for Assyria or its capital. Nineveh was so completely destroyed that the Greek historian Xenophon passed by its ruins without knowing it was there. hisses and shakes his fist: Those who suffered under Assyria's cruel empire would feel glad seeing it come to an end.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1515. Nothing then seemed more improbable than that the capital of so vast an empire, a city sixty miles in compass, with walls one hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could go abreast on them, and with fifteen hundred towers, should be so totally destroyed that its site is with difficulty discovered. Yet so it is, as the prophet foretold. there is none beside me--This peculiar phrase, expressing self-gratulation as if peerless, is plainly…Read the comment

Topics related to Zephaniah 2:15

• Assyria
• Confidence
• Nineveh
• Pride

In the dictionaries

• Cottage
• Nahum, Book of
• Thereupon
• Couching-Place
• Judah, Kingdom of
• Zephaniah, Book of
• Assyria, Asshur
• Nineveh
• exult, exultant

Commentaries on Zephaniah 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings