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

13And He will stretch out His hand against the north And eliminate Assyria, And He will make Nineveh a desolation, Parched like the wilderness. 14Flocks will lie down in her midst, All animals that range in herds; Both the pelican and the hedgehog Will spend their nights in the tops of her pillars; Birds will sing in the window, Devastation will be on the threshold; For He has uncovered the cedar work. This is the presumptuous city That dwells securely, Who says in her heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” How she has become a desolation, A resting place for animals! Everyone who passes by her will hiss And wave his hand in contempt.

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

• Thisזֶהzeh · thisH2088
• presumptuousעַלִּיז‛allîyz · jubilantH5947
• cityעִיר‛îyr ‛âr ‛âyar · cityH5892
• dwellsיָשַׁבyâshab · to dwellH3427
• securelyבֶּ֫טַחbeţach · securityH983
• Who saysאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• in her heartלֵבָבlêbâb · heartH3824
• I am, and thereאֶ֫פֶס'ephes · endH657
• besidesעוֹד‛ôd ‛ôd · stillH5750
• Howאֵיךְ'êyk 'êykâh 'êykâkâh · how?H349
• she has becomeהָיָהhâyâh · to beH1961
• desolationשַׁמָּהshammâh · horror: destroyedH8047
• A restingמַרְבֵּץmarbêts · restingH4769
• Everyoneכֹּלkôl kôl · allH3605
• who passesעָבַר‛âbar · to passH5674
• hissשָׁרַקshâraq · to whistleH8319
• waveנוּעַnûa‛ · to shakeH5128
• his handיָדyâd · handH3027

Cross-references for Zephaniah 2:15

• Isaiah 10:12So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the arrogant pride of his eyes.”
• Isaiah 22:2You who were full of noise, You tumultuous town, you jubilant city; Your dead were not killed with the sword, Nor did they die in battle.
• Isaiah 47:7Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’ These things you did not consider Nor remember the outcome of them.
• Revelation 18:7To the extent that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, to the same extent give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’
• Isaiah 47:8“Now, then, hear this, you luxuriant one, Who lives securely, Who says in her heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow, Nor know the loss of children.’
• Ezekiel 28:2“Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, ‘The Lord God says this: “Because your heart is haughty And you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas’; Yet you are a mortal and not God, Although you make your heart like the heart of God--
• Ezekiel 29:3Speak and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, The great monster that lies in the midst of his canals, That has said, ‘My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.’
• Isaiah 14:4that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased, And how the onslaught has ceased!
• Lamentations 1:1How lonely sits the city That once had many people! She has become like a widow Who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces Has become a forced laborer!
• Lamentations 2:1How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He has hurled The glory of Israel from heaven to earth, And has not remembered His footstool In the day of His anger.
• Revelation 18:10standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’
• 1 Kings 9:7then I will cut Israel off from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will expel from My sight. So Israel will become a saying and an object of derision among all peoples.
• Job 27:23People will clap their hands at him, And will whistle at him from their places.
• Psalms 52:6The righteous will see and fear, And they will laugh at him, saying,
• Lamentations 2:15All who pass along the way Clap their hands in ridicule at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city of which they said, ‘Perfect in beauty, A joy to all the earth’?”
• Ezekiel 27:36The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; You have become terrified And you will cease to be forever.’”’”

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