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Zephaniah 2:15

in Zephaniah 2

This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

This is the joyous city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none besides 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.

KJV

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.

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This verse in Zephaniah 2

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Zephaniah · Written before 420.

(Verse 12 and following) But even you, Ethiopians, will be killed by my sword: and he will stretch out his hand over the North, and will destroy Assyria: and he will make a beautiful place desolate, and like a deserted wilderness. And flocks will lie down in the midst of it: all the beasts of the nations, and the pelican, and the hedgehog will dwell in its thresholds: the voice of the singer in the window, the raven on the top. For I will weaken its strength.

This site's exposition

and destroy Assyria

on Zephaniah 2:13-15

The oracle against Assyria answers Nahum's whole book in a stanza, Nineveh made a desolation and dry like a wilderness, the city that could not be starved by siege pictured instead as ground with no water left in it at all. Flocks and beasts of the nations lying down among cormorant and bittern in the ruined lintels turn the palace's own carved cedar work into a habitat for creatures rather than kings, and the bench reads the picture as literal fulfillment once Nineveh's mounds lay abandoned for centuries. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly names Nineveh's own pride in its own words, I am, and there is none beside me, the identical boast Isaiah puts in Babylon's mouth at 47:8, one empire's arrogance quoted back at its ruin.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Oresiesis-Heru-sa Ast

INSTRUCTIONS 7:10 · Written before 380.

proposed

Some from the circle of your friendship go out with a made-up face; they wear a bandeau around their face; they put this black thing over their eyes under pretext of illness; they have numberless rings attached to their handkerchief, and on their belt, fringes …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

3 Seek ye the L ORD , all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the L ORD 's anger. Here we see what the prophet meant in that terrible description of the approaching judgments which we had in the foregoing chapter.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:27w-of-58

This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Yet so it is, as the prophet foretold. there is none beside me--This peculiar phrase, expressing self-gratulation as if peerless, is plainly adopted from Isa 47:8.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

This is the rejoicing city - The city in which mirth, jocularity, and pleasure, reigned without interruption. And wag his hand - Will point her out as a mark and monument of Divine displeasure.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

This utter desolation is “the rejoicing city” (so unlike is it, that there is need to point out that it is the same); this is she, who was full of joy, exulting exceedingly, but in herself, not in God; “that dwelt carelessly,” literally, “securely,” and so carelessly; saying “Peace and safety” 1Th 5:3, as though no evil would come upon her, and so perishing more certainly and miserably (see Jdg 18:27) “That said in her heart,” this was her inmost feeling, the moving cause of all her deeds; “I am and there is none beside me;” literally , “and there is no I beside,” claiming the very attribute of God (as the world does) of self-existence, as if it alone were “I,” and others, in respect of her, were as nothing.

The words behind it

21 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • זֹ֠אתthis

    zotH2063 →

  • הָעִ֤יר[is] the city

    hairH5892 →1090 times

  • הָעַלִּיזָה֙<the> jubilant

    haalizahH5947 →

  • הַיּוֹשֶׁ֣בֶתwhich dwells

    haiyoshevetH3427 →1079 times

  • לָבֶ֔טַחto security

    lavetachH983 →

  • הָאֹֽמְרָה֙which says

    haomerahH559 →5305 times

  • בִּלְבָבָ֔הּin heart its

    bilvavahH3824 →

  • אֲנִ֖יI

    ʾaniH589 →

  • וְאַפְסִ֣יand only I

    veafsiH657 →

  • ע֑וֹד[am] yet

    odH5750 →490 times

  • אֵ֣יךְ׀how!

    ʾeikhH349 →

  • הָיְתָ֣הit has become

    hayetahH1961 →3559 times

  • לְשַׁמָּ֗ה<into> a waste

    leshamahH8047 →

  • מַרְבֵּץ֙a resting place

    marbetzH4769 →

  • לַֽחַיָּ֔הfor <the> animal[s]

    lachaiyahH2416 →498 times

  • כֹּ֚לevery

    kolH3605 →5413 times

  • עוֹבֵ֣ר[one who] passes by

    overH5674 →556 times

  • עָלֶ֔יהָat it

    ʾaleihaH5921 →5755 times

  • יִשְׁרֹ֖קhe will hiss

    yishrokH8319 →

  • יָנִ֥יעַhe will shake

    yania'H5128 →

  • יָדֽוֹ׃ סhand his

    yadoH3027 →1618 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Revelation 18:7As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow and will never see grief.’17 worksEzekiel 28:2“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.5 worksIsaiah 47:8So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’5 worksIsaiah 47:7–8You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.4 worksEzekiel 28:9Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who slay you? You will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who wound you.4 worksIsaiah 22:2O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.4 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Nahum 3:19There is no healing for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news of you applaud your downfall, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?4 worksEzekiel 27:36Those who trade among the nations hiss at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’”4 worksJeremiah 19:8I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.3 worksLamentations 2:15All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”3 worksPsalms 52:6–7The righteous will see and fear; they will mock the evildoer, saying,3 works1 Kings 9:7–8then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples.3 worksLamentations 1:1How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.3 worksJob 27:23It claps its hands at him and hisses him out of his place.3 worksLamentations 2:1How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of His anger! He has cast the glory of Israel from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger.2 worksMatthew 27:39And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads2 worksEzekiel 29:3Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it myself.’2 worksIsaiah 14:4–5you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Ezekiel 28:2

    “Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 31:3

      But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall; both will perish…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 28:9

      Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who slay you? You will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who wound you.

    • 2 Thessalonians 2:4

      He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

    • Isaiah 14:13–14

      You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of…

    • Proverbs 16:18

      Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

  • Through

    Nahum 3:19

    There is no healing for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news of you applaud your downfall, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?

    it leads to

    • Micah 1:9

      For her wound is incurable; it has reached even Judah; it has approached the gate of my people, as far as Jerusalem itself.

    • Lamentations 2:15

      All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the…

  • Through

    Isaiah 22:2

    O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 32:13

      and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers—even for every house of merriment in this city of revelry.

Where this verse is studied

About Zephaniah

Zephaniah: the study guide →Read Zephaniah 2 →
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zephaniah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Oresiesis-Heru-sa Ast, INSTRUCTIONS 7:10.

Read on in Zephaniah 2 →