Zephaniah 1:13
What does Zephaniah 1:13 mean?
A plain-English look at Zephaniah 1:13 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Zephaniah 1:13 means
The sentence matches the sin. Those who grew fat with complacency and gain will see their wealth become spoil. Their houses, once emblems of stability, will stand empty. They will build but not live in what they built, plant vineyards but not drink their wine. These are classic covenant reversals: God withdraws the blessings that come with obedience and allows futility to replace fruitfulness. The verse teaches that prosperity without godliness is sand. What is accumulated without reference to Jehovah can vanish in a moment under His hand. The punishment is fitting—those who ignored God’s purposes will find their own purposes frustrated and their labors rendered vain.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: yea, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: yea, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And their wealth will be violently taken away, and their houses will be made waste: they will go on building houses and never living in them, and planting vine-gardens but not drinking the wine from them.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And their wealth hath been for a spoil, And their houses for desolation, And they have built houses, and do not inhabit, And they have planted vineyards, And they do not drink their wine.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And their strength shall become a booty, and their houses as a desert: and they shall build houses, and shall not dwell in them: and they shall plant vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And their wealth shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation; and they shall build houses, and not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and not drink the wine thereof.
Context
Verse 13 completes the personal judgment promised in verse 12 by describing tangible losses and futility, echoing covenant warnings. Having established both the nearness of judgment and its fairness, the prophecy gathers force in verses 14–16 with a rapid, solemn depiction of the day of Jehovah. The reader moves from particular outcomes to a panoramic view of the day’s terror and totality.
v.12And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps; and I will punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, neither will he do evil.
v.13This passage
v.14The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of Jehovah; the mighty man crieth there bitterly.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Ezekiel 22:31
Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I brought upon their heads, saith the Lord Jehovah.
- Micah 3:12
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
- Jeremiah 15:13
Thy substance and thy treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
- Jeremiah 9:11
And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
- Jeremiah 9:19
For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.
- Jeremiah 5:17
And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat; they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall beat down thy fortified cities, wherein thou trustest, with the sword.
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