Zephaniah 3:6-8

I have cut off the nations.

Terrible calamities in human history

In these verses the prophet sums up all that he had said in the preceding verses of this chapter, and thus closes his admonition to repentance with the announcement of tremendous judgments. These verses remind us of the following great truths--

I. That there is a sense in which the most terrible calamities in human history may be ascribed to God. Here He is represented as cutting off the nations, destroying their “towers,” making their “streets waste,” so that “there is no man,” and “none inhabitant.”

II. That the grand design of such calamities is the promotion of moral improvement amongst mankind. As the storms, the snows, the frosts, and the cutting winds of winter help to bring on the luxuriant spring, so the calamities in human life contribute to the moral regeneration of mankind.

III. That the non-realisation of this design amongst a people exposes them to terrible retribution. “But they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.” The men of Jerusalem, instead of getting better for these terrible calamities, grew worse. They “corrupted all their doings.” This they did with assiduity. (Homilist.)