Bible Strands
Zephaniah 1:9
On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill the house of their master with violence and deceit.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — YHWH speaks through the prophet Zephaniah to Judah and Jerusalem at the appointed time of the Day of the LORD’s sacrifice.
The words — The Hebrew `דּוֹלֵג` (do.Leg) means "leaps" and `מִפְתָּן` (mif.Tan) translates to "threshold," describing those who physically bound over a doorway.
The thread — Threshold reverence appears in 1 Samuel 5:5, where worshippers of Dagon avoid stepping on the temple threshold, while the accusation of filling houses with violence and deceit parallels the indictment in Amos 3:10.
Why it lands — The text states YHWH will actively punish those who violate sacred boundaries and sustain their households through systemic oppression and falsehood, demanding recognition of divine accountability over ritual compliance or social status.
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
In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 5:5 That is why, to this day, the priests of Dagon and all who enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on the threshold.
- Amos 3:10 “For they know not how to do right,” declares the LORD. “They store up violence and destruction in their citadels.”
- 1 Samuel 2:15 Even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”
- 2 Kings 5:20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared this Aramean, Naaman, by not accepting what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”
- Nehemiah 5:15 The 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 my fear of God.
- Proverbs 29:12 If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.
- Acts 16:19 When the girl’s owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities in the marketplace.