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

13He will stretch out his hand against the north and devastate Assyria and make Nineveh as a wasteland— dry as a desert. 14Flocks will lie down in her midst, all kinds of beasts— both the little owl and the great owl will lodge in her pillars. A voice will hoot in the window. Ruin will be in the doorway, for the cedar beams will be exposed. This is the exultant city, dwelling securely, saying in her heart, ‘It’s me--no one else but me!’ How did she become a ruin, an abode for wild beasts? Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

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 10:12Therefore it will come to pass, when Adonai finishes all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glorying of his haughty eyes.”
• Isaiah 22:2You were full of noise, a boisterous city, an exultant town? Your dead were not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.
• Isaiah 47:7You said, “Forever, I will be the eternal mistress-queen!” You did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.
• Revelation 18:7As she has exalted herself and indulged herself in luxury, so give her the same measure of torment and grief! For in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen— I am no widow; I shall never see grief.’
• Isaiah 47:8Now then, hear this, voluptuous one, dwelling securely, saying in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me! I will not sit as a widow, or know the loss of children,”
• Ezekiel 28:2“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘So your heart is exalted and you say, “I am a god! I sit in the seat of the gods in the heart of the seas!” Yet you are human, not a god, even if you set up your heart like the heart of a god.
• Ezekiel 29:3speak and say, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh King of Egypt, the great crocodile lying in his rivers, who says: “My Nile is my own —I made it for myself.”
• Isaiah 14:4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon and say: “How the taskmaster has ceased! The raging oppressor, exacter of gold, has ceased!
• Lamentations 1:1How lonely sits the city, once so full of people! She who was once great among the nations has become like a widow. The princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer.
• Lamentations 2:1How my Lord has clouded over the daughter of Zion in His anger! He hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth. He has not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger.
• Revelation 18:10standing far off because of the terror of her torment, saying: “Alas, alas, O great city— O Babylon, the mighty city! For in a single hour your judgment has come!”
• 1 Kings 9:7then will I cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and this House which I have consecrated for My Name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
• Job 27:23It claps its hands at him in derision, and hisses him out of his place.”
• Psalms 52:6You love only devouring words— treacherous tongue!
• Lamentations 2:15All who pass your way clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem. “Is this the city of which they said, ‘The perfection of beauty,’ ‘the joy of the whole earth’?”
• Ezekiel 27:36The merchants among the people hiss at you. You have become a horror and will be no more.’”

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