Zephaniah 2:15

The people of Nineveh were previously happy and proud, thinking that they were very safe. They were always saying, “Our city is the greatest city; there is no city as great as ours!” But now it will become a ruins, a place where wild animals make their dens. And everyone who passes by there will hiss and scorn/ridicule that city, and shake their fists to show that they detest that city very much.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

In Context

14Flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and many kinds of wild animals will lie down there. Owls and crows will sit on the columns/pillars of the destroyed buildings, and they will ◄hoot/cry out► through the windows. There will be rubble in the doorways, and the valuable cedar boards will be taken from the ruined houses.

Read all of Zephaniah 2

Cross References

1 Kings 9:7I will remove my Israeli people from the land that I have given to them. I will also abandon this temple that I have set apart/dedicated to be the place where people should worship me. Then people everywhere will despise the people of Israel and make fun of them.

Psalms 52:6When righteous people see that, they will be awestruck, and they will laugh at what happened to you, and say,

Isaiah 14:4When that happens, you will make fun of the King of Babylon by saying this: “You treated us cruelly, but that has ended! Your insolently causing others to suffer is finished!

Isaiah 32:9You women of Jerusalem who think that you are very secure/safe and think that everything is going well, listen to [IDM] what I say!

Isaiah 47:8You people of Babylon who enjoy pleasure and sex, listen to this: You enjoy a luxurious life and you feel secure. You say, ‘We are like gods, and there are no others like us. Our women will never become widows, and our children will never be killed in wars.’

Jeremiah 19:8I will completely destroy Jerusalem and cause it to become a heap of ruins that people will despise. All the people who pass by will be appalled, and they will be shocked when they see that the city has been destroyed.

Matthew Henry on Zephaniah 2:13-15

Ethiopia and Assyria Threatened. ( b. c. 612.) 12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. 13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. 14 And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. 15 This… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

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