Zephaniah 1 · Verse 7

Zephaniah 1:7

Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.
Zephaniah 1:7, King James Version

Zephaniah 1:7 in other translations

BSBBe silent in the presence of the Lord GOD, for the Day of the LORD is near. Indeed, the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has consecrated His guests.
WEBBe silent at the presence of the Lord GOD, for the day of the LORD is at hand. For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests.
ASVHold thy peace at the presence of the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jehovah is at hand: for Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath consecrated his guests.
YLTHush! because of the Lord Jehovah, For near is a day of Jehovah, For prepared hath Jehovah a sacrifice, He hath sanctified His invited ones.
DARBYBe silent at the presence of the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jehovah is at hand; for Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath hallowed his guests.
BBELet there be no sound before the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is near: for the Lord has made ready an offering, he has made his guests holy.
WebsterHold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath invited his guests.

What does Zephaniah 1:7 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord--(Ha 2:20). Let the earth be silent at His approach [Maurer]. Or, "Thou whosoever hast been wont to speak against God, as if He had no care about earthly affairs, cease thy murmurs and self-justifications; submit thyself to God, and repent in time" [Calvin]. Lord ... prepared a sacrifice--namely, a slaughter of the guilty Jews, the victims due to His justice (Is 34:6; Jr 46:10; Eze 39:17). bid his guests--literally, "sanctified His called ones" (compare Is 13:3). It enhances the bitterness of the judgment that the heathen Chaldeans should be sanctified, or consecrated as it were, by God as His priests, and be called to eat the flesh of the elect people; as on feast days the priests used to feast among themselves on the remains of the sacrifices [Calvin]. English Version takes it not of the priests, but the guests bidden, who also had to "sanctify" or purify themselves before coming to the sacrificial feast (1Sa 9:13, 22; 16:5). Nebuchadnezzar was bidden to come to take vengeance on guilty Jerusalem (Jr 25:9).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lords God - הס has, the same as hush, hist, among us. Remonstrances are now useless. You had time to acquaint yourselves with God; you would not: you cry now in vain; destruction is at the door. The Lord hath prepared a sacrifice - A slaughter of the people. He hath bid his guests - The Babylonians, to whom he has given a commission to destroy you. In all festivals sacrifices, 1. The victims were offered to God, and their blood poured out before the altar. 2. The people who were invited feasted upon the sacrifice. See on Isa 34:6 (note).

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Zephaniah 1:7-13
God's day is at hand; the punishment of presumptuous sinners is a sacrifice to the justice of God. The Jewish royal family shall be reckoned with for their pride and vanity; and those that leap on the threshold, invading their neighbours' rights, and seizing their possessions. The trading people and the rich merchants are called to account. Secure and careless people are reckoned with. They are secure and easy; they say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil; that is, they deny his dispensing rewards and punishments. But in the day of the Lord's judgment, it will clearly appear that those who perish, fall a sacrifice to Divine justice for breaking God's law, and because they have no interest by faith in the Redeemer's atoning sacrifice.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Zephaniah 1:7 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הַ֕סhashush!H2013
מִפְּנֵ֖יmi.pe.Neifrom beforeH6440
אֲדֹנָ֣י'a.do.Nai[the] LordH136
יְהוִ֑הYah.wehYahwehH3069
כִּ֤יkiforH3588
קָרוֹב֙ka.rOv[is] nearH7138
י֣וֹםYom[the] day ofH3117
יְהוָ֔הYah.wehYahwehH3068
כִּֽי\־ki-forH3588
הֵכִ֧יןhe.Khinhe has preparedH3559
יְהוָ֛הYah.wehYahwehH3068
זֶ֖בַחZe.vacha sacrificeH2077
הִקְדִּ֥ישׁhik.Dishhe has consecratedH6942
קְרֻאָֽיו\׃ke.ru.'Avinvited [ones] hisH7121

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Zephaniah 1:7

  • Habakkuk 2:20

    But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

  • Zechariah 2:13

    Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.

  • Zephaniah 1:14

    The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

  • Isaiah 34:6

    The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.

  • Jeremiah 46:10

    For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

  • Isaiah 13:6

    Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

  • Matthew 22:4

    Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

  • Joel 2:31

    The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

  • Amos 5:18-20

    Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

  • 1 Samuel 16:5

    And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

  • Isaiah 2:12

    For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

  • Ezekiel 7:7

    The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
thy.
1Sa 2:9,10; Job 40:4,5; Ps 46:10; 76:8,9; Isa 6:5; Am 6:10; Hab 2:20
Zec 2:13; Ro 3:19; 9:20
for the day.
14; Isa 2:12; 13:6; Eze 7:7,10; Joe 2:1,2,11,31; Am 5:18-20; Mal 4:1
Php 4:5; 2Pe 3:10-12
for the Lord.
Isa 34:6; Jer 46:10; Eze 39:17-20; Re 19:17,18
he hath.
Pr 9:1-6; Mt 22:4; Lu 14:16,17
bid. Heb. sanctified, or prepared.
1Sa 16:5; 20:26; Col 1:12

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Zephaniah 1:6

    And them that are turned back from the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor enquired for him.

  • Zephaniah 1:7

    Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.

  • Zephaniah 1:8

    And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.

Read all of Zephaniah 1

Zephaniah 1:7 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Calla en la presencia del Señor Jehová, porque el día de Jehová está cercano; porque Jehová ha aparejado sacrificio, prevenido ha sus convidados.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Fais silence, devant le Seigneur, l’ Éternel! car le jour de l’ Éternel est proche; car l’ Éternel a préparé un sacrifice, il a sanctifié ses conviés.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Still vor dem Herrn Jehova! denn nahe ist der Tag Jehovas; denn Jehova hat ein Schlachtopfer bereitet, er hat seine Geladenen geheiligt.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Silete a facie Domini Dei, quia juxta est dies Domini: quia præparavit Dominus hostiam; sanctificavit vocatos suos.