Zephaniah 3:1

Zephaniah 3:1 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
• New International Version (NIV)Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled!
• English Standard Version (ESV)Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city!
• New King James Version (NKJV)Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, To the oppressing city!

Context of Zephaniah 3:1

The filthy, stained city is as good as dead; the city filled with oppressors is finished! 2She is disobedient; she refuses correction. She does not trust the Lord; she does not seek the advice of her God. 3Her princes are as fierce as roaring lions; her rulers are as hungry as wolves in the desert, who completely devour their prey by morning.

Zephaniah 3:1 word by word

ה֥וֹי מֹרְאָ֖ה וְנִגְאָלָ֑ה הָעִ֖יר הַיּוֹנָֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Woeהוֹיhôy · woe!H1945
• to her that is filthyמָרָאmârâ' · to flapH4754
• and pollutedגָּאַלgâ'al · to defileH1351
• to the oppressingיָנָהyânâh · to oppressH3238
• cityעִיר‛îyr ‛âr ‛âyar · cityH5892

Cross-references for Zephaniah 3:1

• Leviticus 1:16Then the priest must remove its entrails by cutting off its tail feathers, and throw them to the east side of the altar into the place of fatty ashes,
• Isaiah 5:7Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies, the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help!
• Isaiah 30:12For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “You have rejected this message; you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick, and rely on that kind of behavior.
• Isaiah 59:13We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord; we turned back from following our God. We stir up oppression and rebellion; we tell lies we concocted in our minds.
• Jeremiah 6:6All of this is because the Lord who rules over all has said: ‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem and build up a siege ramp against its walls. This is the city which is to be punished. Nothing but oppression happens in it.
• Jeremiah 22:17But you are always thinking and looking for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means. Your eyes and your heart are set on killing some innocent person and committing fraud and oppression.
• Ezekiel 22:7They have treated father and mother with contempt within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow within you.
• Amos 3:9Make this announcement in the fortresses of Ashdod and in the fortresses in the land of Egypt. Say this: “Gather on the hills around Samaria! Observe the many acts of violence taking place within the city, the oppressive deeds occurring in it.”
• Amos 4:1Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan who live on Mount Samaria! You oppress the poor; you crush the needy. You say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink!”
• Micah 2:2They confiscate the fields they desire, and seize the houses they want. They defraud people of their homes, and deprive people of the land they have inherited.
• Zechariah 7:10You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow human being.’
• Malachi 3:5“I will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, who refuse to help the immigrant and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Commentaries on Zephaniah 3:1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 1Wo to her that is filthy - This is a denunciation of Divine judgment against Jerusalem.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1The “woe,” having gone round the pagan nations, again circles round where it began, the “Jerusalem that killed the prophets and stoned those that were sent unto her” Matthew 23:37. Woe upon her, and joy to the holy Jerusalem, the “new Jerusalem Revelation 3:12; Revelation 21:10, the Jerusalem which is from above, the mother of us all,” close this prophecy; both in figure; destruction of her and the whole earth, in time, the emblem of the eternal death…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 1Further reproofs for sin. (1-7) Encouragement to look for mercy. (8-13) Promises of future favour and prosperity. (14-20) Verses 1-7 The holy God hates sin most in those nearest to him. A sinful state is, and will be, a woful state. Yet they had the tokens of God's presence, and all the advantages of knowing his will, with the strongest reasons to do it; still they persisted in disobedience. Alas, that men often are more active in doing wickedness than…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1Polluted Jerusalem (made unclean by sin and wrongdoing) had turned away from its calling to be a holy city (Isaiah 52:1).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-201. filthy--Maurer translates from a different root, "rebellious," "contumacious." But the following term, "polluted," refers rather to her inward moral filth, in spite of her outward ceremonial purity [Calvin]. Grotius says, the Hebrew is used of women who have prostituted their virtue. There is in the Hebrew Moreah; a play on the name Moriah, the hill on which the temple was built; implying the glaring contrast between their filthiness and the holiness…Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Pride
• Zephaniah, Book of

Commentaries on Zephaniah 3

• 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