Bible Strands
Zephaniah 1:2
“I will completely sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through the prophet Zephaniah during the reign of King Josiah of Judah. The declaration announces an impending divine judgment that precedes the detailed list of swept-away creatures and idols in the following verse.
The words — The Hebrew verb אָסֹף ('a.Sof) literally means to gather or utterly destroy, paired with כֹּל (Kol) for "everything" and פְּנֵי הָאָדָמָה (pe.Nei ha.'a.da.Mah) for "the surface of the ground." This phrasing establishes a total removal rather than a partial correction.
The thread — This theme of comprehensive earth-wide judgment echoes in 2 Kings 22:16, where calamity is promised according to the prophetic word, and in Micah 7:13, which describes the earth becoming desolate because of its inhabitants. Jeremiah 36:29 further reinforces the pattern of prophetic declarations concerning Judah's impending ruin.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of divine sovereignty over creation and the certainty of judgment against widespread corruption. It requires the reader to confront the seriousness of collective sin and the absolute nature of the announced removal.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 22:16 that this is what the LORD says: I am about to bring calamity on this place and on its people, according to all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read,
- Micah 7:13 Then the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds.
- Jeremiah 36:29 You are to proclaim concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah that this is what the LORD says: You have burned the scroll and said, ‘Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon would surely come and destroy this land and deprive it of man and beast?’
- Ezekiel 33:27 Tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘As surely as I live, those in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I will give to be devoured by wild animals, and those in the strongholds and caves will die by plague.
- Genesis 6:7 So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”
- 2 Chronicles 36:21 So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation, until seventy years were completed, in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah.
- Isaiah 6:11 Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
- Jeremiah 6:8 Be forewarned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitant.”
- Jeremiah 24:8 But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.
- Jeremiah 34:22 Behold, I am going to give the command, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”