the Week of Proper 18 / Ordinary 23
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Read the Bible
The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible
Zephaniah 2:2
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- InternationalContextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
the decree: Zephaniah 3:8, 2 Kings 22:16, 2 Kings 22:17, 2 Kings 23:26, 2 Kings 23:27, Ezekiel 12:25, Matthew 24:35, 2 Peter 3:4-10
as: Job 21:18, Psalms 1:4, Isaiah 17:13, Isaiah 41:15, Isaiah 41:16, Hosea 13:3
before the fierce: Zephaniah 1:18, 2 Chronicles 36:16, 2 Chronicles 36:17, Psalms 2:12, Psalms 50:22, Jeremiah 23:20, Lamentations 4:11, Nahum 1:6, Malachi 4:1, Malachi 4:2, Luke 13:24-28
before the day of: Psalms 95:7, Psalms 95:8
Reciprocal: Joshua 7:13 - sanctify 1 Chronicles 16:11 - Seek Psalms 105:4 - Seek Isaiah 13:6 - for the day Jeremiah 4:4 - lest Jeremiah 5:31 - and what Jeremiah 13:24 - as Ezekiel 13:5 - the day Daniel 4:27 - if it Amos 5:13 - an evil Zephaniah 1:15 - is Malachi 3:17 - and I Acts 2:20 - great
Cross-References
And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the sixth day.
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.
The name of the first river is Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident.
It is a sign between Me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work-neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox or donkey or any of your livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest as you do.
If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD's holy day honorable, if you honor it by not going your own way or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,
But Jesus answered them, "To this very day My Father is at His work, and I too am working."
For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this manner: "And on the seventh day God rested from all His works."
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Before the decree bring forth, [before] the day pass as the chaff,.... Which was like a woman big with child, ready to be delivered. The decree of God concerning the people of the Jews was pregnant with wrath and ruin for their sins, and just ripe for execution; and therefore, before it was actually executed, they are exhorted as above; not that the decree of God which was gone forth could be frustrated and made void by anything done by them; only that, when it was put into execution, such as repented of their sins might be saved from the general calamity; which they are called upon to do before the day come appointed by the Lord for the execution of this decree; which lingered not, and was not delayed, but slid on as swiftly as chaff before the driving wind. There is some difficulty in the rendering and sense of these words; some thus, "before the day, which passes as chaff, brings forth the decree" e; that is, before the time, which moves swiftly, brings on the execution of the decree, or of the thing decreed in it, it is big with: others, "before the decree brings forth the day that passeth as chaff" f; or in which the chaff shall be separated from the wheat, pass away, be dispersed here and there; that is, before they were scattered about by it as chaff: and to this sense the Septuagint and Arabic versions, "before ye are as a flower"; or, as the Syriac, "as chaff that passeth away"; and so the Targum more fully,
"before the decree of the house of judgment come out upon you, and ye be like chaff which the wind blows away, and like a shadow which passes from before the day.'' See Psalms 1:4.
Before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you; these phrases explain the former, and show what the decree was big with, and ready to bring forth, even the judgments of God, in wrath and fierce anger; and what the day is, said to pass as the chaff; the day of God's vengeance fixed by him, which should come upon them, and scatter them like chaff among the nations of the world: or rather the words may be rendered thus, as by Gussetius g, "whilst as yet the decree hath not brought forth, the day passeth away like chaff"; being neglected and spent in an useless and unprofitable manner; for which they are reproved; and therefore are exhorted to be wiser for the future, and redeem precious time; and, before the Lord's anger comes upon them, do what is before exhorted to, and particularly what follows:
e בטרם לדת "antequam dies, quae transit ut palea, pariat decretum", Drusius; so Ben Melech. f "Priusquam decretum Dei pariat deim veluti glumae transeuntis", Grotius. g Ebr. Comment. p. 305.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Before the decree bring forth - God’s word is full (as it were) of the event which it foretelleth; it contains its own fulfillment in itself, and “travaileth” until it come to pass, giving signs of its coming, yet delaying until the full time. Time is said to bring forth what is wrought in it. “Thou knowest not, what a day shall bring forth.”
Before the day pass as the chaff - Or, parenthetically, “like chaff the day passeth by.” God’s counsels lie wrapt up, as it were, in the womb of time, wherein He hides them, until the moment which He has appointed, and they break forth suddenly to those who look not for them. The mean season is given for repentance, that is, the day of grace, the span of repentance still allowed, which is continually whirling more swiftly by; and woe, if it be fruitless as chaff! Those who profit not by it shall also be as chaff, carried away pitilessly by the whirlwind to destruction. Time, on which eternity hangs, is a slight, uncertain thing, as little to be counted upon, as the light dry particles which are the sport of the wind, driven uncertainly here and there. But when it is “passed,” then “cometh,” not “to” them, but “upon” them, from heaven, overwhelming them, “abiding upon” John 3:36 them, not to pass away, “the heat of the anger of Almighty God.” This warning he twice repeats, to impress the certainty and speed of its conming Genesis 41:32. It is the warning of our Lord, “Take heed, lest that day come upon you unawares” Luke 21:34.
