Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, June 17th, 2025
the Week of Proper 6 / Ordinary 11
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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Zephaniah 1:2

"I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth," declares the LORD.

Bible Study Resources

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Animals;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Zephaniah, the Book of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Zephaniah, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Zephaniah (1);   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Day of Judgment;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Consume;   Josiah;   Zephaniah, Book of;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Root;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I will completely sweep away everythingfrom the face of the earth—
Hebrew Names Version
I will utterly sweep away everything off of the surface of the eretz, says the LORD.
King James Version (1611)
I will vtterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord.
King James Version
I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord .
English Standard Version
"I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth," declares the Lord .
New American Standard Bible
"I will completely remove all things From the face of the earth," declares the LORD.
New Century Version
"I will sweep away everything from the earth," says the Lord .
Amplified Bible
"I will completely consume and sweep away all things From the face of the earth [in judgment]," says the LORD.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I will surely destroy all things from off the land, saith the Lorde.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"I will completely remove all things From the face of the earth," declares the LORD.
Legacy Standard Bible
"I will completely end all thingsFrom the face of the ground," declares Yahweh.
Contemporary English Version
I, the Lord , now promise to destroy everything on this earth—
Complete Jewish Bible
"I will completely sweep away everything off the face of the land," says Adonai .
Darby Translation
I will utterly take away everything from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah:
Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord says, "I will destroy everything on earth.
George Lamsa Translation
I will utterly remove all things from off the face of the earth, says the LORD.
Good News Translation
The Lord said, "I am going to destroy everything on earth,
Lexham English Bible
"I will surely destroy everything from the face of the earth"—a declaration of Yahweh.
Literal Translation
I will completely gather away all from on the face of the ground, declares Jehovah.
American Standard Version
I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah.
Bible in Basic English
I will take away everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the earth, saith the LORD.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I will surely destroy all thinges in the land, sayth the Lorde.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Let there be an utter cutting off from the face of the land, saith the Lord.
English Revised Version
I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith the LORD.
World English Bible
I will utterly sweep away everything off of the surface of the earth, says Yahweh.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y gaderinge schal gadere alle thingis fro the face of erthe, seith the Lord;
Update Bible Version
I will completely consume all things from off the face of the ground, says Yahweh.
Webster's Bible Translation
I will utterly consume all [things] from off the land, saith the LORD.
New English Translation
"I will destroy everything from the face of the earth," says the Lord .
New King James Version
"I will utterly consume everything From the face of the land," Says the LORD;
New Living Translation
"I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth," says the Lord .
New Life Bible
"I will take away everything from the earth," says the Lord.
New Revised Standard
I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord .
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I will take clean away everything from off the face of the ground, Declareth Yahweh.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Gathering, I will gather together all things from off the face of the land, saith the Lord:
Revised Standard Version
"I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth," says the LORD.
Young's Literal Translation
I utterly consume all from off the face of the ground, An affirmation of Jehovah.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I will gather vp all thinges in the londe (saieth the LORDE)
THE MESSAGE
"I'm going to make a clean sweep of the earth, a thorough housecleaning." God 's Decree.

Contextual Overview

1This is the word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah: 2"I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth," declares the LORD.3"I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the ruins along with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth," declares the LORD. 4"I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all who dwell in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the idolatrous and pagan priests- 5those who bow on the rooftops to worship the heavenly host, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Molech, 6and those who turn back from following the LORD and neither seek the LORD nor inquire of Him."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I will: etc. Heb. By taking away I will make an end, utterly. 2 Kings 22:16, 2 Kings 22:17, 2 Chronicles 36:21, Isaiah 6:11, Jeremiah 6:8, Jeremiah 6:9, Jeremiah 24:8-10, Jeremiah 34:22, Jeremiah 36:29, Ezekiel 33:27-29, Micah 7:13

land: Heb. face of the land

Reciprocal: Ezra 8:22 - his power and his wrath Jeremiah 4:25 - there was no man Ezekiel 6:6 - the cities Micah 2:4 - We Habakkuk 1:5 - for Zephaniah 1:18 - he shall

Cross-References

Genesis 1:12
The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:14
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.
Job 26:7
He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.
Job 26:14
Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?"
Psalms 33:6
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
Isaiah 45:18
For thus says the LORD-He who created the heavens; He is God; He formed the earth and fashioned it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited-"I am the LORD, and there is no other.
Nahum 2:10
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I will utterly consume all [things] from off the land, saith the Lord. That is, from the land of Judah, by means of the Chaldeans or Babylonians: this is a general denunciation of the judgments of God, the particulars follow: or, "in gathering I will gather"; all good things out of the land; all the necessaries of life, and blessings of Providence; all that is for the sustenance and pleasure of man, as well as all creatures, by death or captivity; and so the land should be entirely stripped, and left naked and bare. The phrase denotes the certainty of the thing, as well as the utter, entire, and total consumption that should be made, and the vehemence and earnestness in which it is expressed.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will utterly consume all things - Better “all.” The word is not limited to “things” “animate” or “inanimate” or “men;” it is used severally of each, according to the context; here, without limitation, of “all.” God and all stand over against one another; God and all which is not of God or in God. God, he says, will utterly consume all from off the land (earth). The prophet sums up in few words the subject of the whole chapter, the judgments of God from his own times to the day of Judgment itself. And this Day Itself he brings the more strongly before the mind, in that, with wonderful briefness, in two words which he conforms, in sound also, the one to the other, he expresses the utter final consumption of all things. He expresses at once the intensity of action and blends their separate meanings, “Taking away I will make an end of all;” and with this he unites the words used of the flood, “from off the face of the earth.”

Then he goes through the whole creation as it was made, pairing “man and beast,” which Moses speaks of as created on the sixth day, and the creation of the fifth day, “the fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea;” and before each he sets the solemn word of God, “I will end,” as the act of God Himself. The words can have no complete fulfillment, until “the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up” 2 Peter 3:10, as the Psalmist too, having gone through the creation, sums up, “Thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust” Psalms 104:29; and then speaks of the re-creation, “Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth” Ps. 104:36, and, “Of old Thou hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands; they shall perish, but Thou shalt endure, yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed” Ps. 103:25.

Local fulfillments there may, in their degree, be. Jerome speaks as if he knew this to have been. Jerome: “Even the brute animals feel the wrath of the Lord, and when cities have been wasted and men slain, there cometh a desolation and scarceness of beasts also and birds and fishes; witness Illyricum, witness Thrace, witness my native soil,” (Stridon, a city on the confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia) “where, beside sky and earth and rampant brambles and deep thickets, all has perished.” But although this fact, which he alleges, is borne out by natural history, it is distinct from the words of the prophet, who speaks of the fish, not of rivers (as Jerome) but of the sea, which can in no way be influenced by the absence of man, who is only their destroyer. The use of the language of the histories of the creation and of the deluge implies that the prophet has in mind a destruction commensurate with that creation. Then he foretells the final removal of offences, in the same words which our Lord uses of the general Judgment. “The Son of Man shall send forth His Angels and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity” Matthew 13:41.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zephaniah 1:2. I will utterly consume all things] All being now ripe for destruction, I will shortly bring a universal scourge upon the land. He speaks particularly of the idolaters.


 
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