Zephaniah 1:9
in Zephaniah 1On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill the house of their master with violence and deceit.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And in that day I will punish all those that leap over the threshold, that fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.
KJV
In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
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This verse in Zephaniah 1
Commentary
7 notes on this verseIn the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold,.... Not in a ludicrous way, who, by dancing and leaping, made sport for persons, and brought their masters much gain, as the damsel possessed with a spirit of divination did, Act 16:16 rather, that entered rashly and irreverently into the house of God; or else in an idolatrous way, who, when they went into an idol's temple, did not tread upon the threshold, but leaped over it, as the priests of Dagon, after the fall of that idol on the threshold, 1Sa 5:
This site's exposition
clothed with strange apparel
on Zephaniah 1:8-9
The princes and king's children punished for strange apparel points to a court that had adopted foreign fashion as it had adopted foreign gods, dressing itself in the manner of the nations Judah was meant to be distinct from. Leaping on the threshold in verse 9 is read by the bench against the account at 1 Samuel 5:5, where Dagon's priests would not tread on his temple's threshold after the idol fell there, a superstition Zephaniah accuses Jerusalem's own household servants of having picked up. Filling their masters' houses with violence and deceit turns a foreign superstition into a charge of plain theft, the borrowed custom and the corruption named in the same verse.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 8, 9.) And it shall come to pass on the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king's sons, and all who are clothed with foreign apparel. And I will punish everyone who arrogantly enters over the threshold on that day, those who fill the house of the Lord their God with iniquity and deceit.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The trading people, and the rich merchants, are next called to account. Iniquity is found in their end of the town, among the inhabitants of Maktesh, a low part of Jerusalem, deep like a mortar (for so the word signifies); the goldsmiths lived there ( Neh. iii.
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The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I will punish all those that leap on the threshold - Neither language nor history nor context allow this to be understood of the idolatrous custom of Ashdod, not to tread on the threshold of the temple of Dagon. It had indeed been a strange infatuation of idolatry, that God’s people should adopt an act of superstitious reverence for an idol in the very instance in which its nothingness and the power of the true God had been shown. Nothing is indeed too brutish for one who chooses an idol for the true God, preferring Satan to the good God.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Compare Isa 2:6, "thy people . . . are soothsayers like the Philistines." CALVIN'S view agrees best with the latter clause of the verse. fill . . . masters' houses with violence, &c.--that is, with goods obtained with violence, &c.
That leap on the threshold - Or, that leap over the threshold. It is most probable that the Philistines are here meant. After the time that Dagon fell before the ark, and his hands were broken off on the threshold of his temple, his worshippers would no more set a foot upon the threshold, but stepped or leaped over it, when they entered into his temple. The Chaldee understands this of the Philistines, without giving this reason for it. Some understand it of haughtiness and pride: others think that leaping on the threshold refers to the customs of the Arabs, who used to ride into people’s houses and take away whatever they could carry; and that this is the reason why, in several parts of the East, they have their doors made very low, to prevent those depredators from entering. In this manner, we learn the Persians have frequently oppressed the poor Armenians, going on horseback into their houses, and taking whatever they thought proper. Mr. Harmer understands it in this way.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
from the fish gate Jonathan renders: from the gate of the fish; there was a gate in Jerusalem called by that name.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּפָקַדְתִּ֗י | ufakadti | and I will visit [judgment] | H6485 → | 303 times |
| עַ֧ל | ʾal | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַדּוֹלֵ֛ג | hadoleg | <the> [one who] leaps | H1801 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַמִּפְתָּ֖ן | hamiftan | the threshold | H4670 → | |
| בַּיּ֣וֹם | baiyom | on the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַה֑וּא | hahu' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| הַֽמְמַלְאִ֛ים | hamalim | those [who] fill | H4390 → | |
| בֵּ֥ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| אֲדֹנֵיהֶ֖ם | ʾadoneihem | lord<s> their | H113 → | |
| חָמָ֥ס | chamas | violence | H2555 → | |
| וּמִרְמָֽה׃ ס | umirmah | and deceit | H4820 → |
וּפָקַדְתִּ֗יand I will visit [judgment]
ufakadtiH6485 →303 times
עַ֧לon
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הַדּוֹלֵ֛ג<the> [one who] leaps
hadolegH1801 →
עַל־over
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַמִּפְתָּ֖ןthe threshold
hamiftanH4670 →
בַּיּ֣וֹםon the day
baiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַה֑וּא<the> that
hahu'H1931 →1879 times
הַֽמְמַלְאִ֛יםthose [who] fill
hamalimH4390 →
בֵּ֥ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
אֲדֹנֵיהֶ֖םlord<s> their
ʾadoneihemH113 →
חָמָ֥סviolence
chamasH2555 →
וּמִרְמָֽה׃ סand deceit
umirmahH4820 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Nehemiah 5:15The governors before me had heavily burdened the people, taking from them bread and wine plus forty shekels of silver. Their servants also oppressed the people, but I did not do this because of…
it leads to
- Nehemiah 5:9
So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our foreign enemies?
- Proverbs 16:6
By loving devotion and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one turns aside from evil.
- Isaiah 50:10
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD; let him…
- Matthew 5:47
And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same?
- 2 Corinthians 11:9
And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to…
- Nehemiah 5:9
Through
Amos 3:10“For they know not how to do right,” declares the LORD. “They store up violence and destruction in their citadels.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 4:22
“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- Psalms 14:4
Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD.
- Jeremiah 4:22
Through
Proverbs 29:12If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.
it leads to
- Proverbs 20:8
A king who sits on a throne to judge sifts out all evil with his eyes.
- Proverbs 20:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Zephaniah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zephaniah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.