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Zephaniah 3

Zeph. 3:4 KJV (With Strong’s)

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Her prophets
nabiy' (Hebrew #5030)
a prophet or (generally) inspired man
KJV usage: prophecy, that prophesy, prophet.
Pronounce: naw-bee'
Origin: from 5012
e are light
pachaz (Hebrew #6348)
to bubble up or froth (as boiling water), i.e. (figuratively) to be unimportant
KJV usage: light.
Pronounce: paw-khaz'
Origin: a primitive root
and treacherous
bogdowth (Hebrew #900)
treacheries
KJV usage: treacherous.
Pronounce: bohg-ed-ohth
Origin: feminine plural active participle of 898
persons
'enowsh (Hebrew #582)
properly, a mortal (and thus differing from the more dignified 120); hence, a man in general (singly or collectively)
KJV usage: another, X (blood-)thirsty, certain, chap(-man); divers, fellow, X in the flower of their age, husband, (certain, mortal) man, people, person, servant, some ( X of them), + stranger, those, + their trade. It is often unexpressed in the English versions, especially when used in apposition with another word . Compare 376.
Pronounce: en-oshe'
Origin: from 605
: her priests
kohen (Hebrew #3548)
literally, one officiating, a priest; also (by courtesy) an acting priest (although a layman)
KJV usage: chief ruler, X own, priest, prince, principal officer.
Pronounce: ko-hane'
Origin: active participle of 3547
have polluted
chalal (Hebrew #2490)
properly, to bore, i.e. (by implication) to wound, to dissolve; figuratively, to profane (a person, place or thing), to break (one's word), to begin (as if by an "opening wedge"); denom. (from 2485) to play (the flute)
KJV usage: begin (X men began), defile, X break, defile, X eat (as common things), X first, X gather the grape thereof, X take inheritance, pipe, player on instruments, pollute, (cast as) profane (self), prostitute, slay (slain), sorrow, stain, wound.
Pronounce: khaw-lal'
Origin: a primitive root (compare 2470)
the sanctuary
qodesh (Hebrew #6944)
a sacred place or thing; rarely abstract, sanctity
KJV usage: consecrated (thing), dedicated (thing), hallowed (thing), holiness, (X most) holy (X day, portion, thing), saint, sanctuary.
Pronounce: ko'-desh
Origin: from 6942
, they have done violence
chamac (Hebrew #2554)
to be violent; by implication, to maltreat
KJV usage: make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine wrongfully.
Pronounce: khaw-mas'
Origin: a primitive root
to the law
towrah (Hebrew #8451)
from 3384; a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch
KJV usage: law.
Pronounce: to-raw'
Origin: or torah {to-raw'}
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Cross References

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Ministry on This Verse

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light.
Isa. 9:15• 15The elder and honourable, he [is] the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he [is] the tail. (Isa. 9:15)
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Isa. 56:10‑12• 10His watchmen [are] blind, they are all without knowledge; they [are] all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
11Yea, the dogs [are] greedy, they can never have enough; and these [are] shepherds [that] cannot understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.
12Come ye, [say they,] I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, [a day] great beyond measure.
(Isa. 56:10‑12)
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Jer. 5:31• 31{i}the prophets prophesy falsehood, and the priests rule by their means; and my people love to have it so. But what will ye do in the end thereof?{/i} (Jer. 5:31)
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Jer. 6:13‑14• 13{i}For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely.{/i}
14{i}And they have healed the breach of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace! when there is no peace.{/i}
(Jer. 6:13‑14)
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Jer. 8:10• 10{i}Therefore will I give their wives unto others, their fields to those that shall possess them; for every one, from the least even unto the greatest, is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely.{/i} (Jer. 8:10)
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Jer. 14:13‑15• 13Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
14Then Jehovah said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
15Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
(Jer. 14:13‑15)
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Jer. 23:9‑17,25‑27• 9{i}Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome; because of Jehovah, and because of the words of his holiness.{/i}
10{i}For the land is full of adulterers; for because of execration the land mourneth. The pastures of the wilderness are dried up; for their course is evil, and their force is not right.{/i}
11{i}For both prophet and priest are profane: even in my house have I found their wickedness, saith Jehovah.{/i}
12{i}Therefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness; they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them in the year of their visitation, saith Jehovah.{/i}
13{i}And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.{/i}
14{i}And in the prophets of Jerusalem have I seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in falsehood, and strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none doth return from his wickedness. They are all become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.{/i}
15{i}Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.{/i}
16{i}Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they lead you to vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, not out of the mouth of Jehovah.{/i}
17{i}They say constantly unto them that despise me, Jehovah hath said, Ye shall have peace. And they say unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his heart, No evil shall come upon you.{/i}
25{i}I have heard what the prophets say, who prophesy falsehood in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.{/i}
26{i}How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, and who are prophets of the deceit of their own heart?{/i}
27{i}who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour: as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.{/i}
(Jer. 23:9‑17,25‑27)
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Jer. 23:32• 32Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith Jehovah, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith Jehovah. (Jer. 23:32)
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Jer. 27:14‑15• 14Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.
15For I have not sent them, saith Jehovah, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.
(Jer. 27:14‑15)
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Lam. 2:14• 14Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee:{HR}And they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity;{HR}But have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. (Lam. 2:14)
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Ezek. 13:3‑16• 3Thus saith the Lord Jehovah; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
4Ο Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
5Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah.
6They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying Jehovah saith: and Jehovah hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
7Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, Jehovah saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
8Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord Jehovah.
9And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.
10Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar:
11say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower: and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
12Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
13Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
14So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
15Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
16to wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord Jehovah.
(Ezek. 13:3‑16)
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Hos. 9:7• 7The days of visitation are come, the days of retribution are come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is foolish, the man of the spirit frantic, for the greatness of thy punishment and the great hatred. (Hos. 9:7)
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Mic. 2:11• 11{i}If a man walking in wind and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink, he shall be the prophet of this people{/i}. (Mic. 2:11)
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Mic. 3:5‑6• 5Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that make my people err{i}, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace! but whoso putteth not into their mouths they prepare war against him:{/i}
6{i}therefore{/i} {i}ye shall have night without{/i} a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
(Mic. 3:5‑6)
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Matt. 7:15• 15But beware of false prophets, which come unto you in sheep's clothing but within are ravening wolves. (Matt. 7:15)
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2 Cor. 11:13• 13For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ: (2 Cor. 11:13)
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2 Peter 2:1‑3• 1But there were false prophets also among the people, as there shall be also false teachers among you, such as shall bring in by-the-bye sects of perdition, denying even the Sovereign Master that bought them, bringing on themselves swift perdition;
2and many shall follow their dissolutenesses; because of whom the way of the truth shall be blasphemed.
3And in covetousness with feigned words, they shall make merchandise of you: for whom judgment from of old is not idle, and their perdition slumbereth not.
(2 Peter 2:1‑3)
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1 John 4:1• 1Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, if they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)
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Rev. 19:20• 20And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs before him, with which he deceived those that had received the mark of the beast and those that worshipped his image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone. (Rev. 19:20)
her priests.
1 Sam. 2:12‑17,22• 12{i}Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not Jehovah.{/i}
13{i}And the priests' custom with the people was, when any man sacrificed a sacrifice, the priest's servant came, when the flesh was cooked, with a flesh-hook of three prongs in his hand;{/i}
14{i}and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot; the priest took of it all that the flesh-hook brought up. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites that came there.{/i}
15{i}Even before they burned the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest, and he will not accept sodden flesh of thee, but raw.{/i}
16{i}If the man said to him, They will immediately burn the fat entire, then take as thy soul desires; he would say to him, No, but thou shalt give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.{/i}
17{i}And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah, for men despised the offering of Jehovah.{/i}
22{i}Now{/i} Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel{i}, and that they lay with the women that served at the entrance of the tent of meeting.{/i}
(1 Sam. 2:12‑17,22)
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Ezek. 22:26• 26Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. (Ezek. 22:26)
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Ezek. 44:7‑8• 7in that ye have brought children of a stranger, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat, and the blood; and they have broken my covenant, because of all your abominations.
8And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things, but ye have set keepers of my ordinance in my sanctuary for yourselves.
(Ezek. 44:7‑8)
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Hos. 4:6‑8• 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I also will reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: because thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I too will forget thy children.
7As they increased, so they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame.
8They eat up the sin of my people, and long after [lift up their soul to] their iniquity.
(Hos. 4:6‑8)
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Mal. 2:8• 8But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. (Mal. 2:8)
 They ought to have had most of all the mind of God. (Zephaniah 3 by W. Kelly)

J. N. Darby Translation

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Her prophets are vain-glorious, treacherous persons; her priests profane the sanctuary, they do violence to the law.

W. Kelly Translation

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Her prophets are light and treacherous persons, her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.