Bible Strands
Zephaniah 3:2
She heeded no voice; she accepted no correction. She does not trust in the LORD; she has not drawn near to her God.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Zephaniah pronounces judgment on the rebellious city of Jerusalem, identifying its spiritual condition before describing the corruption of its leaders. The prophet delivers this indictment during a period of national defilement and oppression.
The words — The text emphasizes לֹא (loʾ) as a repeated negation, שָׁמְעָה (shāmaʿ) for "listened," and לָקְחָה (lāqaḥ) paired with מוּסָר (mûsār) for "accepted correction." These terms establish a literal picture of deliberate refusal to heed instruction or submit to divine authority.
The thread — The pattern of refusing warning and correction recurs in Jeremiah 5:3 and Jeremiah 22:21, while Psalm 73:28 provides the contrasting posture of drawing near to God.
Why it lands — The verse demands a reader acknowledge that spiritual decline begins with the deliberate rejection of correction and the refusal to approach God. It requires a plain recognition that trust and proximity to God are active choices, not automatic outcomes of religious identity.
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
She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
- Jeremiah 22:21 I warned you when you were secure. You said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from youth, that you have not obeyed My voice.
- Psalms 73:28 But as for me, it is good to draw near to God. I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may proclaim all Your works.
- Psalms 78:22 because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.
- Jeremiah 7:23 but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.
- Deuteronomy 28:15 If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
- Nehemiah 9:26 But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.
- Psalms 10:4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.
- Psalms 50:17 For you hate My instruction and cast My words behind you.
- Proverbs 5:12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!