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Read: Zephaniah 7-13
7
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the
day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a
sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.
8
And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD’S
sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s
children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.
[punish: Heb. visit
upon] 9 In the same
day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold,
which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
10
And it shall come to pass in that
day, says the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry
from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a
great crashing from the hills.
11
Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh
[hollow, or valley,
apparently
in the neighborhood of, or in
Jerusalem], for all the
merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are
cut off. 12
And it shall come to pass at
that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and
punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in
their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do
evil. [settled: Heb.
curded, or, thickened] 13
Therefore their goods shall become
a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also
build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant
vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.
God's day is at hand; the
punishment of presumptuous sinners is a sacrifice to the justice
of God.
The Jewish royal family shall be reckoned with for their pride
and vanity; and those that leap on the threshold, invading their
neighbors' rights, and seizing their possessions.
The trading people and the rich
merchants are called to account. Secure and careless people are
reckoned with. They are secure and easy; they say in their
heart, the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil; that
is, they deny his dispensing rewards and punishments.
But in the day of the Lord's
judgment, it will clearly appear that those who perish, fall a
sacrifice to Divine justice for breaking God's law, and because
they have no interest by faith in the Redeemer's atoning
sacrifice.
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