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2–3. The universality of God's terrible judgment, which is about to break out over the world. 4–7. A general indication of the criminality of the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem, by which they incurred the wrath of Jehovah, with an indication of the particular types of their idolatry - the cults of Baal, the heavenly luminaries and Molech; the nearness and inevitability of the terrible day of the Lord. 8–13. More specifically, certain classes of the population are named for their crimes and wickedness, which caused the wrath of God: members of the royal family and court nobles, then people who rely on their wealth, and people who are morally coarse and deny the action of God in the world. 14–18. A depiction of the horrors of the day of the Lord, the consequence of which will be the destruction of the earth and its inhabitants. Zeph.1:2. I will destroy everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord: Zeph.1:3. I will destroy men and animals, I will destroy the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, and the temptations along with the wicked; I will destroy people from the face of the earth, says the Lord. Full of Divine inspiration and as if absorbed in the thought of the serious importance of the revelation received, the prophet at the very beginning of his speech, without any introduction, directly expresses the essence of his prophecy, which consists in announcing the proximity of the all-destroying wrath and judgment of God. The judgment of God is immutable and, moreover, universal - it embraces the whole earth: Jehovah will destroy “everything” from the face of the earth (2), namely: people and livestock, birds and fish (For). But this universality of the wrathful destruction of everything according to the judgment of God is here limited by the indication that the wicked themselves will be destroyed with their temptations (gamakhsheloget girsshaim) (3b). “Says the Lord,” explains the blessed one. Jerome's words of God in v. 2–3 – through the prophet: “I will no longer give you more time for repentance, but I will destroy everything from the face of the earth. There will be no man, no livestock, no bird, no sea fish left.” So even foolish animals experience the wrath of the Lord; for after the devastation of cities and the extermination of people there will be either complete destruction or a significant decrease in animals, fish and birds. Witnesses of this are Illyria, Thrace and the land in which I was born, 3 where everything perished except heaven and earth, the ever-growing thorns and impenetrable forests. And this will happen, as the prophet says, because the multitude of the wicked is too great. So the wicked will fall, people will perish, and there will be a wilderness over the face of the earth” (pp. 240–241). However, in all literal accuracy, the desolation of the country of Judea predicted here, at least if we adhere to the historical framework of the prophecy, was unlikely to be fulfilled. “Here,” says St. Cyril of Alexandria, - in hyperbolic expressions, gives a prophecy that their country will be a complete desert and is almost perishing with all its inhabitants... But just as when a ship is sunk along with the swimmers on it, nothing remains, so with the capture of Judea, nothing, he says, will be saved: neither man, nor animal, nor bird, nor fish. But since there were probably those in it who lived in accordance with the law and had a decent behavior and accessible to surprise; then, so that it does not seem that He directs His wrath at everyone completely and indiscriminately and destroys the righteous along with the unrighteous and destroys the pious along with the lawless and wicked - for this very purpose, he expressly indicates on whom the consequences of His wrath will fall; for he said that “the wickedness will fail, and I will remove the wicked from the face of the earth” (pp. 330–331). Accepted Greek the text of the LXX, as well as its most authoritative codices: Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandria, are omitted when translating Art. 2nd the word Col, "all", which is also omitted in Hebrew. code. 245 at Kennicott. “Probably,” notes Mr. Tyurnin, at first the word was not in the text, and it was inserted later for clarity; otherwise the omission of this word from LXX would be inexplicable” (p. 6). But the presence of this word in all almost without exception copies of the Hebrew text - assuming the non-originality of this word - would be even less acceptable. Moreover, this word is transmitted in Khald., Sirsk., Vulgate, Slav. translations, there is πενια in many Greek codes; Ald., and also - 22, 36, 42, 51, 62, 86 (38 targ.), 97, 114, 147, 238, 240. And the parallelism of the prophet’s speech in Art. 2–3 with similar prophetic foreshadowings from other prophets (eg Jer 4.23–25; Hos 4.3, etc.) requires recognition of the originality of the generalized “all”. In general, the formidable words of Art. 1–3 have a world or cosmic character and can most closely be compared with God’s terrible sentence over the antediluvian world, Gen. 6.7: “I will destroy from the face of the earth the people whom I created; from man to cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the air." The very method of exterminating all life on earth is not indicated by the prophet, but, judging by the depiction of the disasters awaiting Judea, below in Art. 12–18, the prophet threatens the earth with devastating wars, which in the ancient east, indeed, brought complete devastation and death to the warring country (see 2 Kings 3.19, 25, etc.). Zeph.1:4. And I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: I will destroy from this place the remnant of Baal, the name of the priests and the priests, Zeph.1:5. and those who on the housetops worship the host of heaven, and those worshipers who swear by the Lord and swear by their king, Zeph.1:6. and those who departed from the Lord did not seek the Lord and did not inquire about Him. Zeph.1:7. Be silent before the face of the Lord God! for the day of the Lord is near: the Lord has already prepared the sacrificial slaughter, and has appointed whom to call. After a general indication of the judgmental wrath of God that is about to manifest itself in the world, the prophet more specifically and more definitely expresses that the first and main object of the punitive actions of God’s wrath and judgment will be Judea and, above all, Jerusalem with its inhabitants. “What was said in secret now explains and directly says that Divine wrath will befall the tribe of Judah and Jerusalem. He says that His hand will spread out over him, as if seizing and striking and subordinating them to those who are soon expected and will cause devastation...” (St. Cyril Alexander.). The inhabitants of Jerusalem, although included in the scope of the concept of Judea, are however specially named in view of their predominant guilt: Jerusalem, which was the center of the national and state life of the Jews and had the only church on earth to the True God, in which Jehovah promised to dwell forever, accepting the prayers of not only members of the people of God, but also foreigners (1 Kings 8.41–42, 9.3; 2 Chronicles 7.15–16), in The reign of the wicked kings not only ceased to be the center of true religion and life according to the principles of theocracy, but also became the center and breeding ground of all the abominations of idolatry throughout the country. That is why the prophet threatens the inhabitants of Jerusalem especially with punishment. Further (vv. 4b-6) the prophet more specifically indicates the form of punishment, and discovers and lists the main types of crimes of the Jews against the purity of faith and cult, by which “the calculation of sins proves the justice of the punishment” (Blessed Theodoret, p. 42). First of all, the “remnants of Baal” will be destroyed, Heb. sheargabbaal, Vulg. reliquiae Baal, or according to Slav. Bible "names of Baal". LXX: τὰ ὀνό ματα τῆσ Βαὰλ ( τῶν Βααλιμ, as in code. 95, 182, 240. Τῶν Βααλειμ – code. 22, 36, 42, 51, 62, 147, 233 in Golmes). Apparently the LXX was read instead of she'ar, "remnant" shem, "name"; and this last word also appears in some Jewish lists 96, 150, 201 marg. Kennic. Such hesitation in the Jewish text itself, then the demolition of two prophetic passages parallel to the place in question in Zeph 1.4 - Hos 2.18 (shemot gabbe'alim) and Zech 13.2 (shemot-ga'atzabim), as well as the authority of the LXX text, give grounds to give here the priority of the originality of reading the Greek translation before reading the Masoretic text, especially since the second member of the expressions - baal, in some Jewish codes read as in Greek: gabbealim (96 Kem. 22, 36, 51 Lucian). The meaning of the expression, however, does not differ too significantly in both readings. The punitive action of God will wipe out from the face of the earth the godless Sidonian cult of Baal, introduced first by Ahab in the kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 16.31), and then spreading to Judea. The destruction will be complete and complete - all traces of idolatry will be destroyed, so that the very names of both the idols of Baal and his priests, the gakkemarim, will disappear from memory. By kemarim, here as in 2 Kings 23.5, distinguished from kohanim, priests, one should understand, apparently, not of Levitical origin, unlike the hoganim, who belonged to the tribe of Levi. (See Commentaries. Bible, vol. II, p. 569). “That the people of Judah will be exterminated by war and reduced to such a small number that perhaps there will no longer be those who pronounce the name of Baal, or who can be at the churches of idols, (the prophet) subtly hinted at this, saying that the names of idols and their priests will be destroyed (St. Cyril Alexander). God’s judgment will further befall those who worship the heavenly host on the housetops” (tseba-hashamayim), v. 5a. Here, of course, the Babylonian cult of the heavenly luminaries, Sabeism, has long been known to Jews (Deut. 4.19), but spread in Judea only from the time of the kings of Ahaz and especially Manasseh; not associated with the church and priests, performed on the roofs of houses, this cult was very rooted among the Jews and even survived the destruction of Jerusalem - it was carried out by the Jews who fled to Egypt (Jer 13.13, 44:17, 18). In parallel to this criminal cult (in 5b) the custom of the Jews is named to simultaneously swear by Jehovah and “their king” (Heb. bemalkam. The expression: “to swear by someone,” according to the Old Testament view, means performing a well-known cult (see Isa 19.18; Am 8.14; Jer 4.3); from this it is already clear that the Hebrew malkam must mean “deity.” In the LXX lists of Lucian's review: 22, 36, 51, 95, 185, 238 read Μελχὸμ or Μολο῀χ code, 62, 66, 147, or ἢολχομ – 240 in Golmes, similarly in Peshito and in the Vulgate: Melshom. All this gives reason to see here, as in 1 Kings 11.5–7, the Ammonite deity Moloch (See Interpretations of the Bible, vol. II, p. 418). Thus, people with a divided religious consciousness will fall under the punishment of God, who in their faith and in their cult demonstrated a kind of syncretism, the beginning of which in Judea dates back to the time of Ahaz (2 Kings 16.3) and even much earlier. Finally, the wrath and judgment of God are aroused, according to Art. 6, in general, apostates who betrayed Jehovah in their heart, faith or life: “by those who do not seek the Lord and do not care to cleave to Him (those who do not adhere to the Lord), in all likelihood, we should mean those who lead a bad and shameful life and love lawless behavior” (St. Cyril Alex., p. 334) or these were people completely indifferent to the matter of religion, which is religious indifferentism is a natural consequence of the wide spread of heterogeneous cults in the country, as was precisely the case in Judea under Manasseh. This religious indifferentism itself prepared the ground for complete unbelief, one of the types of which is mentioned below (Zeph. 1:12) by the prophet. Having depicted various types of wickedness among the Jews, the prophet contemplates the immediate proximity of the coming judgment of God, as an inevitable consequence of the national crimes he listed, and as the messenger and herald of God he himself bows in reverent adoration before the greatness and horrors of the coming judgment of God, and calls on his listeners to the same reverence with the interjection “gas” used among biblical writers (cf. Judges 3:19; Am 6.10, 8.3; Hab 2.13, Heb. 17): gas millene Adonai-Jehovah - an expression completely similar to that used by the prophet. Habakkuk (Hab 2.20), and prophet. Zechariah (Zechariah 2.13, Heb. 17). The meaning of the particle gas is explained by the blessed one. Jerome, saying: “instead of what is translated in the LXX: be afraid (εὐλαβεῖτε) but with us be silent (silete), in Hebrew there is an exclamation word of the one who commands to be silent” (p. 247). There is no need with some commentators (like Hitzig, Schwalli, Marti) to see in this exclamation a direct relation to the sacrificial action (like the exclamation used in the Roman sacrificial ritual: favete linguis). Rather, as the prophetic parallels of Zech 2.13 (17) and especially Hab 2.20 show, this exclamation, which is an expression of reverent horror before the Lord and Judge called God, represents the prophet’s immediate impression of the general contemplation of the picture before him of the terrible appearance of God’s judgment and at the same time serves as a transition to a detailed depiction of this latter. The prophet briefly expresses the content or essence of God’s judgment in three points: a) the day of the Lord is near; b) the Lord has already prepared a sacrificial slaughter (zevakh); c) appointed someone to call to Him (gikdigi keruav). “The Day of the Lord” (Yom-Jehovah), as noted by the blessed one. Jerome, there is “a day of captivity and vengeance against the people who sinned” (p. 247). Indeed, in the sacred books of the Old Testament, the “day of the Lord” is the day of the triumph of the truth and omnipotence of God in the world and seems to be the day of God’s reign over the earth (Ps 97.1, 98.1–2; Isa 2.12; Zech 14.9) and precisely the moment when, after some patience with regard to violators of God’s truth, the Lord reveals Himself as a formidable Ruler and Judge of the world and restores violated justice with terrible punishments over the wicked, and first of all among the chosen people of God, and then among other nations of the world (Am 5.18, Micah 1.3, 9.13, 10:3, 6, 23, 13.6, Joel 1.15, Hab 1.15; Hab 3.16; Jer 30.7 and many others). Already the most distant moment in the prophetic presentation of the “day of the Lord” is the contemplation of a bright future - the formation of a renewed theocracy on the ruins of Israel and the world, which perished under the influence of God’s punishment (Am 9.8; Hos 2.20, 11.9), the revival of the Kingdom of God from the small saved “remnant” (Isa 7.1, 9.1); so with the prophet Zephaniah, see Zeph 3.8–20. And the last basis of the prophetic teaching about the “day of the Lord” is the anticipation of the inevitability of the day of the general final judgment of God over the whole world, which is spoken about more clearly, for example, by the prophet Malachi (Mal 3.1-2, 4.5 Heb., 3:23), and especially clearly in the New Testament writings (2 Pet 3.10; 1 Sol 5.2; 2 Thess. 2 and etc.). The “Day of the Lord” for the prophet Zephaniah in the place under consideration appears with two attributes: a prepared sacrificial slaughter and guests or participants in the sacrificial feast appointed to be summoned. What kind of sacrifice is this and those called in it? The sacrifice is the destruction of the transgressors of God's law, see Isaiah 34.6; Jer 46.10, and those who are called or chosen - the executors of God's judgment, closest of all - the Babylonians Is 13.3; Jer 25.9. “Sacrifices,” says the blessed one. Theodoret, - the prophetic word calls repeatedly - and the beating of the lawless; and this can be found in other prophets and in the God-wise Ezekiel. He calls his enemies “called.” According to St. Cyril of Alexandria, “he calls the slaughter of the wicked, which was to be carried out by his permission, a sacrifice. And he calls the Chaldeans called, about whom he says that they are sanctified, not because they became saints, but because they were appointed and called by God to burn Judea and exterminate its inhabitants without any mercy. Holy Scripture says something similar in other places. The Persians and Medes, who fought with Cyrus, were called against Nineveh, and God said about them: “They are sanctified, and I lead them, the giants go to fulfill My wrath, rejoicing and reproaching” (Isaiah 13.3). So, in these words, sanctification does not mean the putting aside of sinfulness and not the receipt of the Holy Spirit, but, as it were, the predestination and appointment of famous people to perform such a task (pp. 336-337). Here comes, therefore, a two-sided understanding of holiness and sanctification among the biblical Jews, common to them with other Semites, due to which, according to Blessed. Theodoret, “just as what is truly holy is separated and excommunicated from what is profane, so those who are determined to suffer punishment, as those who are separated for this by God, are called sacred. So he called it a victim, not in the exact meaning of the word. Likewise, the word “anathema” has a double meaning, for it means not only what is dedicated to God, but also what is alienated from Him” (p. 43). Zeph.1:8. And it shall come to pass on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice: I will visit the princes and the king’s sons and all those who dress in the clothing of foreigners; Zeph.1:9. I will visit on that day all those who jump over the threshold, who fill the house of their Lord with violence and deceit. Zeph.1:10. And in that day, says the Lord, there will be a cry at the fish gate, and mourning at the other gate, and great destruction on the hills. Zeph.1:11. Wail, inhabitants of the lower part of the city, for all the trading people will disappear and those laden with silver will be destroyed. Zeph.1:12. And it will happen at that time: I will look around Jerusalem with a lamp and will punish those who sit on their lees and say in their hearts: “The Lord does neither good nor evil.” Zeph.1:13. And their riches will be turned into spoils and their houses into desolation; they will build houses, but will not live in them; they will plant vineyards, but will not drink wine from them. Having announced ( Zeph. 1:7 ) the approach of the terrible day of the Lord's sacrifice, the prophet, before proceeding to depict the disasters of this day, dwells on the moral state of the upper classes of society, which are the main culprits of the corruption of the people and on whom, therefore, the punishing hand of Jehovah will be stretched out first of all. “There are,” says St. Cyril of Alexandria, - the following three institutions on which the well-being of cities and countries depends: royal power, government positions subordinate to it and the glorious priesthood. If they are in good condition, corresponding to each of them, then all affairs depending on them are in a comfortable state, and their subordinates prosper. But if they want to choose the wrong path and immediately begin to walk along it, then everything will fall into disarray and, as if intoxicated, will rush towards destruction. Just as during pain that affects the bodily head, the rest of the members must also sympathize with it and sympathize with it; so when superiors have turned to evil and are prone to vices, their subordinates are necessarily corrupted along with them. So, on the day, he says, of a sacrifice pleasing to God, that is, at the time when those who committed terrible crimes should be slaughtered, God’s wrath will then be found on the very first objects that differ from others in glory and are outstanding. These are the essence: the house of the king, then the closest to him the house of people clothed with glory and honor, and the third after them, which received more advantages from God than others, the house of the divine priests” (pp. 337–338). First of all, the “princes” of Hebrew sarim, Greek ἄρχοντες, Latin principes are denounced - persons who had administrative or judicial power, state dignitaries, nobles who abused their position. Then the prophet denounces the “sons of the king” Hebrew bene-hammelech Vulg. filios regis according to LXX, τὸν οῖκον τοῦ βασιλέως, glorious house of the king, LXX was obviously read not by the bene (hammelech) sons, but by bet, house, due to the similarity of both words in outline, as well as kinship and meaning, both the references and the translators of the Hebrew. the text often took one of these words instead of the other. Thus, in Jeremiah 2.3; 1 Chronicles 2.10 in LXX, while the Masoretic text in these places has bene (sons of Israel and so on); 1.7 in the LXX: υίοἰ (sons), in the Masoretes - bet. The idea of the expression in both readings remains essentially the same. However, we, contrary to the opinion of Mr. Tyurnin (title op. p. XXXI note and p. 29), believe that the original reading in this case is the Jewish Masoretic, and not the Greek. The Hebrew text here has absolutely no variants (in favor of bet), whereas in the Greek. code. 91 there is a reading expressing the thought of the Hebrew bet (τοὺς ἐκγὸνους Ιωσίσυ τοῦ έυσεβεστάτου). The inappropriateness of the Greek reading is also evident from the fact that in the next article. On the 9th, the word bet – “house” – has a different meaning. But, accepting the Masoretic reading, we cannot attribute the expression “sons of the king” exclusively to the children of King Josiah, as some researchers and commentators on the book of the prophet Zephaniah think, basing their opinion about the relatively late writing of the book precisely on the fact that the sons of Josiah - Jehoahaz, Joachim, Zedekiah, Shallum (1 Chron. 3.14-15) - at the time of writing the book should have already been adults, but this is not it could have been if the book was written in the first half of the reign of Josiah (who ascended the throne, as is known, only eight years old, 2 Kings 22.1) (Hitzig, Philippson, etc.). It is much more natural to understand the expression bene-hammelech in the broad sense of members of the royal family (cf. 2 Kings 10.3, 6, 7–8) and see here a general indication of the ruling Dynasty of the House of David cf. Jer 21.11–12). – Second half of Art. 8 denounces “all who dress in the clothes of foreigners” (kol galkoveshim malbush nokhri). Does this expression indicate a new, third class of people who have aroused the great wrath of the Judge God, or do these words relate only to the previous one, revealing the guilt of nobles and members of the royal family? St. Cyril Alexander sees here a denunciation of the third class of the advanced population - the clergy: “the prophet strongly accuses them and the clergy for putting on alien clothes, that is, they finally reached such an aversion to everything divine and began to neglect the ancient laws of Moses to such an extent that they did not even observe the outward appearance of the priesthood when a certain time called them to perform priestly service. Therefore, just as the sons of Aaron were destroyed by fire, and their crime and guilt was that they placed strange fire on the altar (Lev. 10:1-2); in exactly the same way, these people about whom we were talking are being punished because, neglecting the decorum that befits them, they did not dress priestly, in accordance with the will of the legislator, but, having dressed in alien clothes, they dared to perform sacred rites” (p. 338). The content of Art. can also speak in favor of such a special explanation of the expression “dressing in the clothes of foreigners.” 9th, also, however, differently understood. But the general meaning and context of the speech requires the adoption of this expression in a broader sense, not only about the priests alone, but also about the upper classes of the population in general, who at this time were strongly and disastrously carried away by Assyrian, Babylonian and Egyptian customs and fashions (cf. Isa 2.6; Am 6.4–6). In the first place here, as is always the case with cultural borrowings, there was a passion for foreign clothing, especially among women of wealth (Isaiah 3.16–23). And after foreign clothing, adherents of foreign cultural acquisitions borrowed the spiritual characteristics of other peoples, including, which was especially harmful, religious and moral views and liturgical, cult forms (see, for example, Ezekiel 8.7–8). It is clear, therefore, how strictly the prophets denounced this kind of borrowing, which they noticed from the Jews of their time and which in the eyes of the prophets were symbols of idolatry. However, to see in Sophia 1.8b a direct denunciation of the criminal, prohibited in Deut. 22.5, wearing women's clothing by men and precisely to see in this place an indication of the cult of Astarte with its hierodules - self-castrators who wore women's dresses - there is no reason, as because the priests - hierodules of the cult of Baal, and together with the related cult of Astarte, have already been mentioned above, Zeph.1:4–5, and because the word nokhri always means: alien, alien, foreign (eg Exodus 21.8; Deut. 17.1b. Judges 19:12) and never has the meaning: belonging to, characteristic of another sex. Rather, here you need to see how the blessed one notes between others. Theodoret, attitude towards the prohibition by the Law of Moses of making clothing from wool and linen together, Lev.19:19; Deut 22.11. “The law,” notes the blessed one. Theodoret, - prohibits clothing woven from linen and wool (Deut. 22.11). It is likely that those who were proud of their wealth and devoted to luxury in clothing imitated neighboring peoples and made around them some varied and unnecessary decorations from crimson-colored wool on linen tunics; and this was directly contrary to the divine law. Why does God threaten both them and those who enter the divine church with wickedness and flattery” (p. 44). In the last words of Blessed. Theodoret gives the most comprehensible explanation of Art. 9th, especially the first half of which is distinguished, mainly in the Greco-Slavic text, by significant darkness and obscurity. There are three main explanations for the words: “I will visit on that day all those who jump over the threshold (Heb. kol-gaddoleg al-gamiftan), who fill the house of their Lord with violence and deceit.” The ancient, already in the Targum, understanding of the expression “jumping over the threshold” sees here an indication of the fact reported in 1 Samuel 5.5: it was precisely the custom that was established among the Philistines after the famous incident with their idol Dagon in the presence of the Israeli ark of the Lord (ibid., vv. 2–4) of not stepping on the threshold of the church (sanctified by the presence of parts of the said idol on them), but jumping over through him. It is assumed that this Philistine custom during the time of Manasseh was adopted by the Jews, which is why the Targum first half of Art. On the 9th he reports: “(I will visit those) who walk according to the customs of the Philistines.” This opinion would most closely correspond to the letter of the biblical text, but its weak side is the complete lack of mention in the Bible of the existence of the said Philistine custom among the Jews. Two other explanations should be considered even weaker: a) as if here we are talking about nobles, sarim, who adopted the widespread in the East custom of honoring the threshold of the royal palace and not setting foot on it (in this case, the expression “the house of their Lord”, bet-adoneigem, is understood about the king); and b) about the clients of nobles who, using the power of their patrons, robbed the people and brought unjustly obtained treasures into the houses of their masters (in this sense the expression adoneigem is understood here). But the idea of ​​a king's palace or the palaces of nobles is completely alien to the text. On the contrary, all ancient translations understand the expression bet-adoneyhem in the sense of the house of God, that is, the church, LXX: τὸν οίκον Κυρίου θεοῦ αὐτῶν, Vulg. domum Domini Dei Sul. Then, "threshold", Heb. mythtan, in the Bible means only the threshold of the temple - pagan (1 Kings 5.4-5) or Jewish (Ezek 9.3, 10.4, 18, 46.2, 47.1). Taking into account the reproof in Art. 8 those who are carried away by foreign clothes, and here in v. 9, one can see the exposure of some kind of hobby, but not in the everyday area, but in the area of ​​cult. Apparently, this refers to the complete lack of reverence for the shrine of the church among the ministers of religion, as the Vulgate translation makes clear: et visitabo super omnem qui arroganter ingreditur super limen. The second half of the verse indicates the very essence of the crime of these servants of religion. What is wickedness and what is flattery (with which those who are accused fill the house of God)? Another prophet makes this clear to us, speaking about Jerusalem: “its elders gave gifts to the judges, ... and its prophets gave money to the sorcerer” (Micah 3.11); and the wise Isaiah rebels against it (Jerusalem) and says: “Your princes do not repent of the common people of Tatem.” (Isa 1.23) (St. Cyril Al.). The great tribulations of the day of the Lord will befall not only the advanced and leading classes of the people, but also all the inhabitants of Jerusalem (as well as all of Judea), and the upcoming hardships will be especially noticeable for rich people. Art. 10 and 11 and paint a picture of general disaster in Jerusalem. The enemy will enter Jerusalem from the north, and therefore the names of the points lying in the northern part of Jerusalem are: 1) the fish gate of Shaar-Gaddagim, 2) the second part of the city of Gashne, 3) the hills, Gebaot, 4) the valley, Makhgesh. The position of all these areas, due to the lack of data on the topography of ancient Jerusalem, can only be indicated with approximate accuracy. The fish gate, the Hebrew name of which is shaar gaddagim, is unsuccessfully rendered in the LXX: πόλη αποκενταύντων, slav. from the goring gates (probably LXX vm. gaddagim read goregim - “killers”), are mentioned in 2 Chronicles 33.14, Nehemiah 3.3, 12.39. Blazh. Jerome, in his commentary, gives an inaccurate indication of the position of these gates: “the fish gates were those that led to Diospolis and Joppa; among all the roads in Jerusalem it was the closest to the sea” (p. 251). Based on this account, the fish gate must have been on the west side of Jerusalem. But in reality, as can be seen especially from Nehemiah 12.39, the fish gate lay on the northern side of the city, perhaps on the site of the current Damascus Gate, in the middle of the second wall of Jerusalem near the fish market (Nehemiah 13.16) (See Bible Commentaries, vol. III, pp. 615 and 644). Expression: second (part of the city), “gamishne”, which is used by Josephus, Ancient. 15:11, 5, conveyed by the words: ἂλλη πὸλις, designates the northern part of Jerusalem, located on the hill of Lira and lying between the first and second walls of the city (Holy Interpretation. Bible, vol. I, p. 248). LXX – ἀπό τῆσ δευτέρας – and Vulgate – a secunda understand the word hamishneh in the sense of a gate, but 2 Kings 22.14; 2 Chronicles 34.22 (where the “second part” appears, by the way, to be the residence of the prophetess Huldana) is not conducive to such an understanding. – The position of the “hills”, hebaot, cannot be determined with accuracy; however, their location in the northern part of the city, due to the general context of Art. 10–11, there is no doubt, and in this case, Moriah, Zion and other hills of the urban area could be called by this word. The position of the Makhtesh area mentioned in Art. 11 is equally uncertain. The common meaning of this Hebrew word is "stupa", monies (Proverbs 27:22) or "yamina" (Judg. 15:19), and ancient translations convey the common meaning of the word differently. LXX: κατοικοῦντες τὴν κατακεκομενην, slav. living in Posechenny (bl. Theodoret: “he called Jerusalem cut down because of the calamity that befell it”). Vulg: habitatores pilae (Blessed Jerome: “living in a crowd, because they are pushed apart like grain bread is pounded with a piece of wood from above”), Theodotion: ἐν τὼ βάθει Aquila and Symmachus: ὅλμος, “valley”. Huld. Targum: nehala Kidron, Kidron Valley. Subsequent researchers are dominated by the idea of ​​a valley, a hollow, connected to the makhtesh, and it seems most reasonable to see here the valley that separated Zion from Acre and Moriah and was known by Josephus under the name φὰραγξ τοροποιῶν, the valley of the cheese makers, now Tyropeon. The prophet threatens the inhabitants of this valley with complete extermination, and the inhabitants of this area are designated first as “the people of Canaan,” Heb. am-kenaan, and then as "burdened with silver", netile-kasef. Both concepts, parallel to each other, are obviously synonymous in meaning, which is quite understandable from the frequent use in the Bible of the word “Kenaani”, a Canaanite (or, which is the same, am-Kenaan, the people of Canaan, as in the place in question) in the sense: merchant (Hosea 12.8; Isa 23.8; Job 40.30), since the most famous of the Canaanites - the Phoenicians - were the main trading people of the ancient world, making his tribal name synonymous with trade (cf. Ezekiel 17.4). It is fair, therefore, in my opinion, to transfer the Heb. am-kenaan in Russian synod.: “trading people”. The Canaanite or Phoenician origin of these inhabitants of the Jerusalem quarter of Makhtesh is quite acceptable: before the captivity, the Jews did not yet know the rigorism that, after the captivity, prompted them to prohibit the Phoenicians and other Canaanites from settling in Jerusalem (Neh 13.16; Zech 14.21); before the Babylonian captivity, many of them undoubtedly lived in Jerusalem (cf. Eze 44.4–8). It is quite natural, however, that the negative qualities of traders: passion for profit, dishonesty, etc., could easily be transmitted from the Phoenicians to the Jews. It is quite acceptable, therefore, to explain the expression “people of Canaan” as applied to the Jews. “The people of Canaan (populus Chanaan),” says Blessed. Jerome - he (the prophet) called the people of Judah, according to what we read in the book of Daniel: the seed of Canaan, not Judah (Dan 13.56) (p. 254). By blessed Theodoret, “because (the inhabitants of Jerusalem) were jealous of the wickedness of the Canaanites; then they suffered final destruction like the Canaanites; and wealth did not help them at all” (p. 45). This is the same explanation in Art. 11 and St. Cyril of Alexandria (pp. 342–343). In view of the fact, however, that the prophet's threats to the horrors awaiting the city of Jerusalem - robbery, bloodshed, killing of the enemy - could be met with indifference, distrust and even contempt from non-believers, the prophet in Art. 12–13 persistently speaks of the inevitability, inevitability of the general and complete destruction of the inhabitants of Jerusalem with their property. At the beginning of Art. 12 instead of reading the accepted Hebrew text, Heb. baet gaga, Vulg. intempore illo, the Greek text of the LXX has, without any variations, another reading: ἐν τῆ ἠμέρα ἐκείνη. Due to the fact that in Chapter I of the book of the prophet Zephaniah, to designate the moment of revelation of God’s judgment both before and after Art. 12 the word yom, “day” is used, and not et, time, and also in view of the fact that the expression beyom-gagu is also found in some of Kennicott’s Jewish lists (30, 139, 150, 158), the reading of LXX Glory: “on the day he” deserves preference over the reading of Masorah. Vulg. – The impossibility of anyone escaping the punishing hand of Jehovah on the day of wrath His prophet clearly represents in 12a, depicting Jehovah Himself walking with a lamp (LXX glory, μετα λύχνου, “with a lamp” and here more precisely than the Hebrew Vulg. bannerot. In lucemis) through the dark and hidden places of the city, where they could hide from enemies of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. “This is expressed allegorically, and the image of speech is taken from those who use a lamp when searching for something lost, and do not let it go from their hands until they find it” (Blessed Theodoret). This image is especially understandable in view of the known darkness and small space of the eastern buildings (see Lk 15.6). This prediction came true in all its terrifying accuracy already during the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans and even more so during the destruction of this city by the Romans. Blessed Jerome notes at this point: “We will read the stories of Josephus (Flavius), and there we will find a description of the fact that even from garbage pits, caves, animal dens and burial cavities, princes, kings and noble people and priests were extracted, who, under the influence of the fear of death, hid in these places” (p. 257. Cf. St. Cyril Al. p. 344). The well-deserved, inexorable punishment will befall first of all “those who sit on their yeast (Heb. gakbofeim alshimreigem - sour with their leaven), saying in their hearts: “The Lord does neither good nor evil.” The image here, as in similar words about Moab of the prophet Jer. 48:11, is obviously taken from old wine, which, once poured into a vessel, was not cleared of sediment or poured into another vessel, and therefore invariably retained its inherent smell and taste. So motionless, indifferent and deaf to all the admonitions and threats of the prophets are the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Taking advantage of the blessings of the world and neglecting all calls to repentance, they became deeply mired in their sinful lives and completely ceased to fear God’s judgment. Explaining the words of the prophet in question 12b, Blessed. Theodoret says: “Here he condemns those who reject Providence, who dare to say that everything is accidental, who claim that God neither does good nor punishes everyone” (p. 45). And blessedly Jerome, “those who, setting aside Providence, said that God is not the author of either good to good people or evil to evil people, will be visited by the wrath of God, but everything is controlled by the will of happiness and carried by an indefinite chance” (p. 257). Such thoughts and beliefs, in essence, bordered on unbelief (see Ps 9.25, 49.21) and were a practical denial of the existence of God. Indeed, the prophets of God themselves provide the most decisive proof of the insignificance of idols that they can neither cause evil nor do good (Isa. 41.23; Jer. 10.8), then were they not an extreme expression of unbelief on the part of the inhabitants of Jerusalem when they blasphemously attributed to Jehovah, the only true God and Judge of the world, the same property of inactivity, which, constituting an undoubted attribute idols, is the surest sign that they are soulless? Apparently mentioned by the prophet in v. 6 indifference to God and religion for many was a hidden disbelief in the existence of God. In the LXX text, the Hebrew expression “hakkofeim al-shimreigem” corresponds to a completely different meaning and sense of the word: famous: “not caring about their guards.” The same reading is suggested in their interpretations by St. Cyril of Alexandria and Blessed. Theodorite. “Guardians,” says the latter, “calls what is established by law, what the law commands to be preserved” (p. 45). And St. Kirill Al. understands guards either in a general sense about laws appointed for execution in a certain case, or in particular priestly statutes (p. 344). Attempts by various scholars to explain the origin of such a significant variant in the Greek text have failed; in any case, the originality here is more likely on the side of the Jewish Masoretic text than the translation of the LXX (see Mr. Tyurnin, pp. 46–47). The stagnation of the inhabitants of Jerusalem in unbelief, impenitence and vices will inevitably lead, as the prophet says with all the power of persuasiveness, v. 13, to the rapid and complete deprivation of all material contentment. At the same time, the prophet’s threat - about the impending deprivation of the use of wealth for the Jerusalemites, property of all kinds, houses, vineyards and wine - is expressed by him in the very form that dates back to the accusatory speech of Moses (Deut. 28.20, 39) and then appears many times in the accusatory speeches of the prophets (for example, Am 5.11; Mic 6.15, etc.). Having previously depicted the religious and moral state of his contemporaries and shown the inevitability of God’s punishment for them, the prophet now, in Art. 14–17, paints a general, menacing picture of the “day of the Lord.” The characterization of the latter, made by the prophet in intermittent and strong expressions, is classic in expressiveness and force, but in essence it represents the revelation of what was said about the “day of the Lord” in v. 7. Soph..1:14. The great day of the Lord is near, near, and hastens greatly: the voice of the day of the Lord is already heard; Then even the bravest will cry out bitterly! Soph..1:15. The day of wrath is this day, the day of sorrow and distress, the day of desolation and ruin, the day of darkness and darkness, the day of clouds and darkness, Soph..1:16. a day of trumpets and shouts of abuse against fortified cities and high towers. Soph..1:17. And I will afflict the people, and they will walk as blind, because they have sinned against the Lord, and their blood will be scattered as dust, and their flesh as dung. The internal causal connection of the new and last section of the chapter with the previous one is shown by the formulation in some Jewish codes of Kennicott (for example, code 150) of the causal conjunction ki; the causal conjunction is also present in Greek. text LXX - ὔτι or διότι, as well as in the German translation. (denn). In contrast to the obscurity of the Jews in unbelief and iniquity, as well as in complete indifference and complete carelessness in relation to prophetic admonitions and threats, the day of revelation of the terrible judgment of God will come with incredible speed: “karov nom Jehovah haggadol, karov umager meod” (14a). “The Prophet called the day great, because on it they would be subjected not to some easy admonition, but to decisive punishment” (Blessed Theodoret, p. 45). The Mager calls this day quick, “as one that has to come without any delay and has to be revealed in a short time” (St. Cyrus Al., p. 348). In depicting the horrors of this day, the prophet first of all names (14b) the military cry of the heroes - the enemies who invaded Judea as executors of the judgment predetermined by God, Zeph.1:7. This picture and the very form of speech resemble similar pictures of prophetic images, for example, in the prophet Nahum (Nahum 3.2), in the prophet. Isaiah (Isaiah 13.3). Further characterization of the day of Jehovah, v. 15–16, is made up of all kinds of disasters that will rush in a whole stream towards the people who have fallen under God’s judgment, into whose borders the enemy army has already entered. Here such grave disasters as the cramped situation and all kinds of deprivations of the besieged, the devastation and devastation of the country, menacing atmospheric phenomena, the horrors of assault and bloodshed are intertwined into one terrible picture. Although for individual expressions of this characteristic numerous parallels from other prophetic and generally sacred writings can be indicated, the speech of the prophet Zephaniah does not lose anything in its extraordinary power of depiction and artistry. The general name of the fateful day is “day of wrath,” yom ​​eora (v. 15), i.e. the wrath of God (cf. Isa. 13.9; Ezek. 21.36; Ps. 77.49, etc.), as the final cause and the only source of all the other manifold disasters of this day. Dies irae dies illa (Vulg) is the classic definition of the Lord's day. The most particular disclosure of this general definition is given by the prophet in the form of a number of paired words of synonymous meaning, which imparts extraordinary expressiveness and poetic charm to the entire speech. The first pair of words: tsar, θιλίψις, tribulation, sorrow, and - metsuka, LXX: ἀνώγκη, Vulg.: angustia, slav.: need, Russian: tightness (cf. Rom 2.9) means mainly that internal state of sorrow and depression, punished by God of the sinner, which is an echo in his soul of various external disasters (see Job 15.24). The second pair is the cognate words shoa and meshoa ἀωρία and ἀφανισμός, slav.: day of hopelessness and disappearance, Vulg.: calamitas, miseria, Russian: desolation and ruin. By combining these two concepts, the prophet most fully expresses the idea of ​​complete desolation (cf. Job 30.3, 38.27) awaiting Judea. Second half of Art. 15 form four synonymous words expressing the idea of ​​darkness, darkness, and all these words are found in the prophet. Joel in his depiction of the "day of the Lord" (Joel 2.2). Heb.: hoshekh (darkness), aphela (condensed darkness), anan (cloud), araphel (cloud); Greek: γνὀφος, σκοτος, νεφέλη, ὀμίχλη and Latin: lenebrae caligo, nebola, turbo - all express different shades of the concept of darkness, gloom, storm, which everything, according to the biblical view, is a revelation not only in general the extraordinary appearance of Jehovah in the world (as at Sinai, Deut. 5.19, 23, 4.11), but also mainly the punitive actions of the truth and judgment of God (Ps 96.2–4: Am 5.18; Joel 2.2, etc.). And if light is synonymous with life and joy (Ps 35.10), then darkness has always served as a synonym for sorrows of all kinds and death itself. “Darkness, gloom, cloud and mist,” says the blessed one. Theodoret, - the prophet calls the attack of disasters, upon the occurrence of which the sun will not be bright for those looking at it on a clear day; but everything will seem full of darkness” (p. 46). – St. 16 indicates the objective reason for the unbearable suffering awaiting the Jews - in the horrors of the assault on the Jewish cities with their fortifications; “the day of the Lord” will be a “day of the trumpet” and shouting of abuse (shofar uterua, cf. Joshua 6.19; Judges 7:17–22; Am 1.14, 2.2) against fortified cities and high towers (actually: corners, pinnot). “Can there be any doubt,” notes St. Kirill Alex., - is that an attack by enemies will be unbearable both for cities that are very populous and for those experienced in the art of war? And to other cities, even if they were surrounded by the fences of fortress walls, he announced, adding that the day of the Lord would be a day of trumpeting and shouting against solid cities and on high corners. He calls cities strong if they abound in brave people and have a lot of people capable of war. He calls cities fortified with walls “corners” and “high”; for on the walls of fortresses the corners always protrude upward and rise into towers that are higher than other buildings” (p. 349). Art. 17. All these strong fortifications will not save the Jews from their enemies, especially since under the weight of disasters they will lose the ability to act prudently (see Nahum 2.5); in fulfillment of the formidable prophecy of Moses (Deut. 28.29–30), spiritual and bodily blindness will befall them, and they themselves will persistently strive for their destruction (cf. Jer. ch. XXVII-XXVIII; XXXII-XXXIV; XXXVI-XXXIX; XLII-XLIII). The final assault on the cities of Judea will be accompanied by terrible bloodshed, so that instead of dust a sea of blood will be spilled on the streets of the cities, and instead of dung there will be corpses lying around (cf. Jer 25.32-33), “that is, they will not be worthy of what is established by the law: they will not even have a burial,” (Blessed Theodoret), which the Jews feared most of all (Ps 78.2; Jer. 22.18–19, etc.). Zeph.1:18. Neither their silver nor their gold can save them on the day of the wrath of the Lord, and the whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy, for He will bring about sudden destruction upon all the inhabitants of the earth. The prophet once again foreshadows the inevitability and suddenness of the death of the Jewish people. “And wealth will not help the rich; because they will not receive deliverance from disasters for money, but, like some kind of fire, they will be destroyed by the wrath of God, who will subject those inhabiting the earth to sudden death. So he threatens them with sorrows, and then offers an exhortation to resort to repentance” (Blessed Theodoret, p. 46). i.e. Dalmatia, where the city of Stridon was located, where the blessed one was born. 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