Jerusalem's Sin and Redemption

31 Wo 'to' the rebellious and polluted, The oppressing city! 2 She hath not hearkened to the voice, She hath not accepted instruction, In Jehovah she hath not trusted, Unto her God she hath not drawn near. 3 Her heads in her midst 'are' roaring lions, Her judges 'are' evening wolves, They have not gnawn the bone in the morning. 4 Her prophets unstable—men of treachery, Her priests have polluted the sanctuary, They have violated the law. 5 Jehovah 'is' righteous in her midst, He doth not do perverseness, Morning by morning His judgment he giveth to the light, It hath not been lacking, And the perverse doth not know shame. 6 I have cut off nations, Desolated have been their chief ones, I have laid waste their out-places without any passing by, Destroyed have been their cities, Without man, without inhabitant. 7 I have said: Only, ye do fear Me, Ye do accept instruction, And her habitation is not cut off, All that I have appointed for her, But they have risen early, They have corrupted all their doings.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Zephaniah 3:1-7

Commentary on Zephaniah 3:1-7

(Read Zephaniah 3:1-7)

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 believers are in doing good.