SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:12
Y será en aquel tiempo, que yo escudriñaré a Jerusalén con candiles, y haré visitación sobre los hombres que están sentados sobre sus heces, los cuales dicen en su corazón: El SEÑOR ni hará bien ni mal.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Zephaniah 1:12
Verse 12. I will search Jerusalem with candles] I will make a universal and thorough search. That are settled on their lees] Those who are careless, satisfied with the goods of this life; who trust in their riches, and are completely irreligious; who, while they acknowledge that there is a God, think, like the Aristotelians, that he is so supremely happy in the contemplation of his own excellences, that he feels it beneath his dignity to concern himself with the affairs of mortals.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 12. And it shall come to pass at that time, [that] I will search Jerusalem with candles , etc.] To find out the sins of the inhabitants of it, and the authors of them, and punish them for them, however hid and concealed from the eyes of others, or thought to be: this must be understood consistent with the omniscience of God, who knows all persons and things; nothing is hid from him; men may fancy their sins are hid, being privately and secretly committed; but all will be manifest, sooner or later; if not now, yet at the day of judgment; and sometimes they are made manifest by God in this life, as here; for what the Lord here says he would do, he did it by instruments, by the Chaldeans, whom he sent to Jerusalem; and to whom the gates of the city, the doors of houses, and the innermost recesses of them, were opened and plundered by them; and all for the sins of the people, which were hereby exposed. So the Targum, “and it shall be at that time that I will appoint searchers, and they shall search Jerusalem, as they that search with candles;” and no doubt but this was literally true of the Chaldeans, who with candles might search vaults and cellars, and such like dark places, where they supposed goods and riches were concealed. The allusion may be to the searching with lamps for leaven on the fourteenth of Nisan, when the passover began, in every corner of a house, and, when they found it, burnt it f20 ; or in general to searching for anything which lies concealed in dark places, where the light of the sun comes not, and can only be discovered by the light of candles; and denotes that nothing should escape the sight and knowledge of God, by whom a full discovery would be made of their persons and sins, and cognizance taken of them in a vindictive way, as follows: and punish the men that are settled on their lees ; like wine on the lees, quiet and undisturbed; in a good outward estate and condition, abounding in wealth and riches, and trusting therein; and which, as the Targum paraphrases it, they enjoy in great tranquillity; Moab like, having never been emptied from vessel to vessel, ( Jeremiah 48:11) and so concluded they should ever remain in the same state, and became hardened in sin, or “curdled”, and thickened, as the word signifies; and were unconcerned about the state of religion, or the state of their own souls; and fearless and thoughtless of the judgments of God; but should now be visited, disturbed in their tranquil state, and be troubled and punished: that say in their heart ; not daring to express with their lips the following atheism and blasphemy; but God, who searched and tried their hearts, knew it: The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil ; which is a flat denial of his providence; saying that he takes no notice of what is done by men on earth, whether good or bad; and neither rewards the one, nor punishes the other. So the Targum, as Kimchi quotes it, “it is not the good pleasure of God to do good to the righteous, or to do evil to the wicked;” than which nothing is more false! the Lord does good to all in a providential way, and to many in a way of special grace; and rewards with a reward of grace all good men, both here and hereafter; and though he does not do any moral evil, yet he executes the evil of punishment in this world, and in that to come, on evildoers.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 7-13 - God's day is at hand; the punishment of presumptuous sinners is 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 secur and easy; they say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, neithe will he do evil; that is, they deny his dispensing rewards an punishments. But in the day of the Lord's judgment, it will clearl 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.
Original Hebrew
והיה 1961 בעת 6256 ההיא 1931 אחפשׂ 2664 את 853 ירושׁלם 3389 בנרות 5216 ופקדתי 6485 על 5921 האנשׁים 376 הקפאים 7087 על 5921 שׁמריהם 8105 האמרים 559 בלבבם 3824 לא 3808 ייטיב 3190 יהוה 3068 ולא 3808 ירע׃ 7489
