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New Living Translation
Zephaniah 1:5
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
And those who go up on their roofs to worship the stars will be forgotten. They worship me, the Lord , but they also use the name of the false god Milcom to make promises.
"And those who bow down on the housetops to the heavenly lights, And those who bow down and swear to the LORD, but also swear by Milcom,
I will destroy those who worship the stars from the roofs, and those who worship and make promises by both the Lord and the god Molech,
and those that worship the host of heaven on the housetops; and those that worship, that swear to Yahweh and swear by Milcom;
And them that worship the host of heaven upon the house-tops; and them that worship [and] that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;
And those who bow down and worship the host of heaven [the sun, the moon, and the stars] on their housetops And those who bow down and swear [oaths] to [and pretend to worship] the LORD and [yet also] swear by [the pagan god called] Milcom [god of the Ammonites],
those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom,
those who worship the host of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam,
and hem that worschipen on roouys the knyythod of heuene, and worschipen, and sweren in the Lord, and sweren in Melchon;
and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship, which swear to the LORD and swear by Malcam;
those who bow on the rooftops to worship the heavenly host, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Molech,
Not a trace will be found of those who worship stars from their rooftops, or bow down to the god Milcom, while claiming loyalty to me, the Lord .
and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship, that swear to Jehovah and swear by Malcam;
And the worshippers of the army of heaven on the house-tops, and the Lord's worshippers who take oaths by Milcom,
those worshipping heaven's army on the roofs, also those who worship and swear by Adonai but swear by Malkam as well,
and them that bow down to the host of the heavens upon the housetops; and them that bow down to Jehovah, that swear by [him], and swear by Malcham;
And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship, that swear to the LORD and swear by Malcam;
And them that worship the hoste of heauen vpon the house tops, & them that worship, and that sweare by the Lord, and that sweare by Malcham:
I will destroy those who bow down on the roofs to the stars of heaven, and those who bow down and make promises to the Lord and yet promise in the name of Milcom.
those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens; those who bow down and swear to the Lord , but also swear by Milcom;
And them that worship the hoste of heauen vpon the house tops, and them that worship and sweare by the Lord, and sweare by Malcham,
And all of those who worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and all who worship and swear by the LORD and also swear by Malcom;
And them who bow down upon the housetops to the host of the heavens, - and them who bow down - who swear to Yahweh, and swear by Milcom;
And them that worship the host of heaven upon the tops of houses, and them that adore, and swear by the Lord, and swear by Melchom.
those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens; those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by Milcom;
Yea & such as vpon their house toppes worship and bowe them selues vnto the hoast of heauen, whiche sweare by the Lorde, and by their Malchom also:
and them that worship the host of heaven upon the house-tops; and them that worship and swear by the Lord, and them that swear by their king;
I will destroy anyone who goes up on the roof and worships the sun, the moon, and the stars. I will also destroy those who worship me and swear loyalty to me, but then take oaths in the name of the god Molech.
those who bow in worship on the rooftopsto the stars in the sky;those who bow and pledge loyalty to the Lordbut also pledge loyalty to Milcom;
those who worship the host of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by the LORD and also swear by Malkam,
And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the Lord , and that swear by Malcham;
and those who bow down on the rooftops to the host of heaven, and those who bow down, swearing to Yahweh but also swearing by Milkom,
and those bowing to the host of the heavens on the housetops; and those bowing, swearing to Jehovah, also swearing by Malcham,
And those bowing themselves On the roofs to the host of the heavens, And those bowing themselves, Swearing to Jehovah, and swearing by Malcham,
yee & soch as vpon their house toppes worshipe & bowe them selues vnto the hoost of heauen: which sweare by the LORDE, and by their Malchom also:
I will remove those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, those who swear allegiance to the Lord while taking oaths in the name of their ‘king,'
Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord,But who also swear by Milcom; Leviticus 18:21) ">[fn]
"And those who bow down on the housetops to the host of heaven, And those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by Milcom,
And those who worship on the housetops the host of heaven,And those who worship and swear to Yahweh and yet swear by Milcom,
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
worship: 2 Kings 23:12, Jeremiah 19:13, Jeremiah 32:29
and them: 1 Kings 18:21, 2 Kings 17:33, 2 Kings 17:41, Matthew 6:24
and that: Deuteronomy 10:20, Isaiah 48:1, Jeremiah 4:2, Hosea 4:15
by the Lord: or, to the Lord, Isaiah 44:5, Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11
swear by: Joshua 23:7
Malcham: 1 Kings 11:33, Milcom, Amos 5:26, Moloch.
Reciprocal: Genesis 24:3 - swear Exodus 20:23 - General Deuteronomy 4:19 - the host 1 Kings 9:9 - Because 1 Kings 11:5 - Milcom 2 Kings 23:5 - the idolatrous priests 2 Kings 23:13 - Milcom 2 Chronicles 33:3 - the host Psalms 63:11 - sweareth Psalms 86:11 - unite Psalms 101:3 - them Psalms 119:10 - my whole Isaiah 65:16 - he that Jeremiah 5:7 - sworn by Jeremiah 7:9 - steal Jeremiah 8:2 - and all Jeremiah 12:16 - as they Jeremiah 44:26 - The Lord God Jeremiah 49:3 - their king Ezekiel 20:39 - but Hosea 7:8 - a cake Hosea 10:2 - Their heart is divided Amos 8:14 - swear Acts 10:9 - Peter 2 Corinthians 6:16 - what Revelation 3:15 - thou
Cross-References
God called the space "sky." And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.
And evening passed and morning came, marking the third day.
And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.
And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.
Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.
As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night."
Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
Both day and night belong to you; you made the starlight and the sun.
You send the darkness, and it becomes night, when all the forest animals prowl about.
I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the Lord , am the one who does these things.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And upon them that worship the host of heaven upon the house tops,.... The sun, moon, and stars, which some worshipped upon their house tops; the roofs of their houses being flat, as the roofs of the houses of the Jews generally were; from hence they had a full view of the host of heaven, and worshipped them openly; and fancied, the nearer they were to them, the more acceptable was their service; see Jeremiah 19:13:
and them that worship, [and] that swear the Lord, and that swear by Malcham; that is, that worship the true God, or at least pretend to do so, and swear by him when they take an oath: or, "that swear to the Lord"; as the words n may be rendered; that swear allegiance to him, to be true and faithful to him, to serve and obey him, and to keep his statutes and ordinances; and yet they swear by Malcham also, or Milchom, or Melchom, the same with Molech, or Moloch, the god of the Ammonites. These were such as partly worshipped God, and partly idols; they divided their religion and devotion between them, sometimes served the one, and sometimes the other; they halted between two opinions, and were a sort of occasional conformists; and such were as detestable to God as those that worshipped idols; as the Papists are, who pretend to worship God and their images, or God in them, and with them; and so all such persons that seek for justification and salvation, partly by their own works, and partly by Christ, are displeasing to the Lord, and miss of the thing; stumbling at the stumbling stone, and so fall and perish.
n הנשבעים ליהוה "qui jurant Domino", Drusius; "qui jurant Jehovae", Cocceius; "jurantes Domino Jehovae", Burkius.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And them that worship the best of heaven upon the - (flat) housetops This was fulfilled by Josiah who destroyed “the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz” 2 Kings 23:12. Jeremiah speaks as if this worship was almost universal, as though well-near every roof had been profaned by this idolatry. “The houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods” Jeremiah 19:13. “The Chaldaeans that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink-offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger” Jeremiah 32:29. They worshiped on the house-tops, probably to have a clearer view of that magnificent expanse of sky, “the moon and stars which” God had “ordained” Psalms 8:3; the “queen of heaven,” which they worshiped instead of Himself. There is something so mysterious in that calm face of the moon, as it “walketh in beauty” Job 31:26; God seems to have invested it with such delegated influence over the seasons and the produce of the earth, that they stopped short in it, and worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. Much as men now talk of “Nature,” admire “Nature,” speak of its “laws,” not as laws imposed upon it, but inherent in it, laws affecting us and our well-being; only not in their ever-varying vicissitudes, “doing whatsoever God commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth, whether for correction, or for His land or for mercy!” Job 37:12-13. The idolaters “worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, Who is blessed forever” Romans 1:25; moderns equally make this world their object, only they idolize themselves and their discoveries, and worship their own intellect.
This worship on the house-tops individualized the public idolatry; it was a rebellion against God, family by family; a sort of family-prayer of idolatry. “Did we,” say the mingled multitude to Jeremiah, “make our cakes to worship her, and pour out our drink-offerings unto her, without our men?” Jeremiah 44:19. Its family character is described in Jeremiah. “The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods” Jeremiah 7:18. The idolatry spread to other cities. “We will certainly do,” they say, “as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem” Jeremiah 44:17. The incense went up continually “as a memorial to God” from the altar of incense in the temple: the “roofs of the houses” were so many altars, from which, street by street and house by house the incense went up to her, for whom they dethroned God, “the queen of heaven.” It was an idolatry, with which Judah was especially besotted, believing that they received all goods of this world from them and not from God. When punished for their sin, they repented of their partial repentance and maintained to Jeremiah that they were punished for “leaving off to burn incense to the queen of heaven” Jeremiah 44:2, Jeremiah 44:15, Jeremiah 44:18.
And them that worship ... the Lord - but with a divided heart and service; “that swear by (rather to) the Lord,” swear fealty and loyal allegiance to Him, while they do acts which deny it, in that “they swear by Malcham,” better (it is no appellative although allied to one) “their king” , most probably, I think, “Moloch.”
This idolatry had been their enduring idolatry in the wilderness, after the calves had been annihilated; it is “the” worship, against which Israel is warned by name in the law Leviticus 18:21; Leviticus 20:2-4; then, throughout the history of the Judges, we hear of the kindred idolatry of Baal , “the” Lord (who was called also “eternal king” and from whom individuals named themselves “son of (the) king,” “servant of (the) king” ), or the manifold Baals and Ashtaroth or Astarte. But after these had been removed on the preaching of Samuel 1Sa 7:6; 1 Samuel 12:10, this idolatry does not reappear in Judah until the intermarriage of Jehoram with the house of Ahab 2 Kings 8:16-18, 2 Kings 8:26-27; 2Ch 21:6, 2 Chronicles 21:12-13; 2 Chronicles 22:2-4.
The kindred and equally horrible worship of “Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon” 1 Kings 11:7, was brought in by Solomon in his decay, and endured until his high place was defiled by Josiah 2 Kings 23:13-14. It is probable then that this was “their king” , of whom Zephaniah speaks, whom Amos and after him Jeremiah, called “their king;” but speaking of Ammon. Him, the king of Ammon, Judah adopted as “their king.” They owned God as their king in words; Molech they owned by their deeds; “they worshiped and sware fealty to the Lord” and they “sware by their king;” his name was familiarly in their mouths; to him they appealed as the Judge and witness of the truth of their words, his displeasure they invoked on themselves, if they swore falsely. Cyril: “Those in error were wont to swear by heaven, and, as matter of reverence to call out, ‘By the king and lord Sun.’ Those who do so must of set purpose and willfully depart from the love of God, since the law expressly says, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and serve Him alone, and swear by His Name” Deuteronomy 6:13.
The former class who “worshipped on the roofs” were mere idolaters. These “worshiped,” as they thought, “the Lord,” bound themselves solemnly by oath to Him, but with a reserve, joining a hateful idol to Him, in that they, by a religious act, owned it too as god. The act which they did was in direct words, or by implication, forbidden by God. The command to “swear by the Lord” implied that they were to swear by none else. It was followed by the prohibition to go after other gods. (Deuteronomy 6:13-14; 10:30, compare Isaiah 65:16; Jeremiah 4:2). Contrariwise, to swear by other gods was forbidden as a part of their service. “Be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the Law of Moses, neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, but cleave unto the Lord your God” (Joshua 23:6-8; compare Amos 8:14). “How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy children have forsaken Me, and have sworn by those who are no gods” Jeremiah 5:7. “They taught My people to swear by Baal” Jeremiah 12:16. They thought perhaps that in that they professed to serve God, did the greater homage to Him, professed and bound themselves to be His, (such is the meaning of “swear to the Lord”) they might, without renouncing His service, do certain things, “swear by their king,” although in effect they thereby owned hint also as god. To such Elijah said, “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him” 1 Kings 18:21; and God by Jeremiah rejects with abhorrence such divided service. “Ye trust in lying words, which will not profit. Will ye steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods, and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, saying, We are delivered to do all these abominations” Jeremiah 7:8-10. And Hosea, “Neither go ye to Beth-aven, and swear there, The Lord liveth” Hosea 4:15.
Such are Christians, Jerome: “who think that they can serve together the world and the Lord, and please two masters, God and Mammom; who, “being soldiers of Jesus Christ” and having sworn fealty to Him, “entangle themselves with the affairs of this life and offer the same image to God and to Caesar” 2 Timothy 2:3-4. To such, God, whom with their lips they own, is not their God; their idol is, as the very name says, “their king,” whom alone they please, displeasing and dishonoring God. We must not only fear, love, honor God, but love, fear, honor all beside for Him Alone.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. The host of heaven — Sun, moon, planets, and stars. This worship was one of the most ancient and the most common of all species of idolatry; and it had a greater semblance of reason to recommend it. See 2 Kings 23:5; 2 Kings 23:12; Jeremiah 19:13; Jeremiah 32:29.
That swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham — Associating the name of an idol with that of the Most High. For Malcham, see on Hosea 4:15, and Amos 5:26.
