Zephaniah 1:15

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁴The great Day of the LORD is near-near and coming quickly. Listen, the Day of the LORD! Then the cry of the mighty will be bitter. ¹⁵That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,¹⁶a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities, and against the high corner towers. ¹⁷I will bring such distress on mankind that they will walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung. ¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the LORD's wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy." For indeed, He will make a sudden end of all who dwell on the earth.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

is: Zephaniah 1:18, Zephaniah 2:2, Isaiah 22:5, Jeremiah 30:7, Amos 5:18-20, Luke 21:22, Luke 21:23, Romans 2:5, 2 Peter 3:7, Revelation 6:17

a day of darkness: Job 3:4-8, Joel 2:2, Joel 2:11

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 2:9 - be silent Job 15:23 - the day Job 21:30 - day Isaiah 8:22 - look Isaiah 13:10 - General Jeremiah 4:19 - sound Jeremiah 46:10 - the day Ezekiel 34:12 - in the cloudy Zephaniah 1:10 - in Matthew 24:29 - shall the

Gill's Notes on the Bible

That day [is] a day of wrath,.... Both of the wrath of God against his people for their sins; these judgments being the effects of his wrath, provoked by their iniquities; and of the wrath and cruelty of the Chaldeans, exercised in a furious manner:

a day of trouble and distress; to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they being taken and led captive, their houses plundered and demolished, and the whole city and temple laid in ruins:

a day of wasteness and desolation; of the whole country of Judea, and the metropolis of it; of their houses, fields, and vineyards:

a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness: as it might be in a natural sense; the displeasure of God being shown in the very heavens, by the darkness and gloominess of them, and the thick clouds with which they were covered; and made still more dark and gloomy by the burning of the city, and the smoke of it; and, in such circumstances, gloominess and melancholy must sit upon the minds of men: and thick clouds and darkness portend greater troubles and calamities coming on; and the whole is expressive of great adversity; for, as light frequently designs prosperity, so darkness adversity.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A day of wrath - In which all the wrath of Almighty God, which evil angels and evil men have treasured to them for that day, shall be poured out: “the” day of wrath, because then they shall be brought face to face before the presence of God, but thenceforth they shall be cast out of it forever.

A day of trouble and distress - Both words express, how anguish shall narrow and hem them in; so that there shall be no escape; above them, God displeased; below, the flames of Hell; around, devils to drag them away, and Angels casting them forth “in bundles to burn them;” without, “the books” which shall be opened;” and within, conscience leaving them no escape.

A day of wasteness and desolation - In which all things shall return to their primeval void, before “the Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters,” His presence being altogether withdrawn.

A day of darkness and gloominess - For sun and moon shall lose their brightness, and no brightness from the Lamb shall shine upon the wicked, but they shall be driven into “outer darkness.”

A day of clouds and thick darkness - Hiding from them the Face of the Sun of Righteousness, and covering Him, so that their “prayers should not pass through” Lamentations 3:44.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zephaniah 1:15. That day is a day of wrath — See the parallel passages in the margin (Isaiah 22:5; Jeremiah 30:7; Joel 2:2, Joel 2:11; Amos 5:18; Zephaniah 1:18), and the notes there. From the fourteenth to the sixteenth verse inclusive (Zephaniah 1:14-16) there is a most beautiful amplification of the disasters that were coming on Jerusalem; the invasion, incursion, attack, carnage, confusion, horrible din occasioned by the sound of the trumpet, the cries of the people, and the shrieks and groans of the dying, are pointed out with great force and mighty effect.