Zephaniah 2:11

The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen. HE WILL FAMISH - bring low, by taking from the idols their former fame: as beasts are famished by their food being withheld. Also, by destroying the kingdoms under the tutelage of idols (; ). ALL THE GODS OF THE EARTH - who have their existence only on earth, not in heaven, as the true God. AND MEN SHALL WORSHIP HIM, EVERY ONE FROM HIS PLACE - each in his own Gentile home, taught by the Jews in the true religion: not in Jerusalem alone shall men worship God, but everywhere (;...

He proceeds with the same subject,—that God would show his power in aiding his people. But he calls him a _terrible _God, who had for a time patiently endured the wantonness of his enemies, and thus became despised by them: for the ungodly, we know, never submit to God unless they are constrained by his hand; and then they are not bent so as willingly to submit to his authority; but when forced they are silent. (100) This is what the Prophet means in these words; as though he had said, that the wicked now mock God, as they disregard his power, but that they shall find how terrible an avenger of his people he is, so that they would have to dread him. And then he compares the superstitions of the nations with true religion; as though he had said, that this would be to the Jews as a reward for their piety, inasmuch as they worshipped the only true God, and that all idols would be of no avai...

4-15 Those are really in a woful condition who have the word of the Lord against them, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. God will restore his people to their rights, though long kept from them. It has been the common lot of God's people, in all ages, to be reproached and reviled. God shall be worshipped, not only by all Israel, and the strangers who join them, but by the heathen. Remote nations must be reckoned with for the wrongs done to God's people. The sufferings of the insolent and haughty in prosperity, are unpitied and unlamented. But all the desolations of flourishing nations will make way for the overturning Satan's kingdom. Let us improve our advantages, and expect the performance of every promise, praying that our Father's name may be hallowed every where, over all the earth....

Verse Zephaniah 2:11. _HE WILL FAMISH ALL THE GODS OF THE EARTH_] They shall have no more _sacrifices_; their worship shall be entirely destroyed. Idolaters supposed that their gods actually _fed_ on the _fumes_ and _spirituous_ exhalations that arose from the burnt-offerings which they made unto their idols. It is in reference to this opinion that the Lord says, "He will famish all the gods of the land....

THE LORD WILL BE TERRIBLE UNTO - (upon) them that is, upon Moab and Ammon, and yet not in themselves only, but as instances of His just judgment. Whence it follows, “For He will famish all the gods of the earth” (Rup.). Miserable indeed, to whom the Lord is terrible! Whence is this? Is not God by Nature sweet and pleasurable and serene, and an Object of longing? For the Angels ever desire to look into Him, and, in a wonderful and unspeakable way, ever look and ever long to look. For miserable they, whose conscience makes them shrink from the face of Love. Even in this life they feel this shrinking, and, as if it were some lessening of their grief, they deny it, as though this could destroy the truth, which they ‘hold down in unrighteousness.’” Romans 1:18. FOR HE WILL FAMISH ALL THE GODS OF THE EARTH - Taking away “the fa

EXPOSITION. VERSE 2:1-3:8 Part II. EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE AND TO PERSEVERANCE. ZEPHANIAH 2:1 § 1. The prophet urges all to examine their ways before the day of the Lord come; and he prays the righteous to seek the Lord more earnestly, in order that they may be safe in the judgment. ZEPHANIAH 2:1 GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER. So the versions; and this rendering is probably correct. The prophet calls upon his nation to assemble themselves together in order to take mutual counsel or to make general confession and supplication to God. Another rendering, based on some alteration

THE LORD [WILL BE] TERRIBLE UNTO THEM,.... To the Moabites and Ammonites in the execution of his judgments upon them, and make their proud hearts tremble; for with him is terrible majesty; he is terrible to the kings of the earth, and cuts off the spirit of princes, Job 37:22 or, as Kimchi observes, this may be understood of the people of God reproached by the Moabites and Ammonites, by whom the Lord is to be feared and reverenced with a godly and filial fear: so it may be rendered, "the Lord is to be feared by them" e; and to this inclines the Targum, "the fear of the Lord is to redeem them;'' FOR HE WILL FAMISH ALL THE GODS OF THE EARTH; particularly of those countries mentioned in the context, the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Ethiopians, and Assyrians; as Dagon, Chemosh, Molech, Bel, and others; called "gods of the earth", in distinction from the God of hea

CHAPTER S 2-3:8 The Call to Repentance in View of the Judgment _ 1. The call to repentance (Zephaniah 2:1) _ 2. The judgment of the Philistines (Zephaniah 2:4) 3. The judgment of Moab and Ammon (Zephaniah 2:8) 4. The judgment of the other nations (Zephaniah 2:11) 5. The woe and warning to Jerusalem and His people (Zephaniah 3:1) Zephaniah 2:1. As we found it in Joel, so it is here. In view of the co

FAMISH. cause to waste away. THE ISLES OF THE HEATHEN. the coast-lands of the nations. Reference to Pentateuch (Genesis 10:5). App-92. The phrase occurs nowhere else. ISLES. coast-lands. HEATHEN. nations....

The judgment of the Day of the Lord upon the nations The nations on whom the impending judgment shall fall are: (1) the Philistines (Zephaniah 2:4); (2) Moab and Ammon (Zephaniah 2:8); (3) Cush or the Ethiopians (Zephaniah 2:12); and (4) Assyria (Zephaniah 2:13). In relation to Judah the four nations named lay respectively west, east, south, and north. The passage appears to be written in the rhythm of the _ḳinah_or Elegy, though in some verses the rhythm is imperfect. Comp. Ezekiel 19. _Cambridge Bible_, and more fully, Budde in the Zeitsch.