Bible Strands
Zephaniah 1:6
and those who turn back from following the LORD, neither seeking the LORD nor inquiring of Him.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Zephaniah addresses Judah, continuing a catalogue of sins (v. 5) that leads directly into the call to silence before the Day of the LORD (v. 7).
The words — נָסוֹג (nāgōg), "turned back," is a participle describing a settled state of withdrawal rather than a single act. The phrase מֵאַחֲרֵי יְהוָה is literally "from after Yahweh," the idiom for following or keeping close to someone.
The thread — Jeremiah 15:6 uses the same "turned back" language as grounds for divine judgment; Isaiah 1:4 and Jeremiah 2:13 frame the identical posture as forsaking the source of life.
Why it lands — The verse isolates a quiet, passive form of unfaithfulness — not a dramatic break but a failure to seek or inquire — and names it as fully culpable before God.
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
And them that are turned back from the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor enquired for him.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 1:4 Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.
- Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
- Jeremiah 15:6 You have forsaken Me, declares the LORD. You have turned your back. So I will stretch out My hand against you and I will destroy you; I am weary of showing compassion.
- Jeremiah 2:17 Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?
- Isaiah 9:13 But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.
- Jeremiah 3:10 Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
- Ezekiel 3:20 Now if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die in his sin, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. And I will hold you responsible for his blood.
- Hosea 11:7 My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them.
- Hebrews 10:38 But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he shrinks back, I will take no pleasure in him.”
- 1 Samuel 15:11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all that night.