Zephaniah 1:14

“The great day of the Lord [is] near, [it is] near, and hasteth greatly, etc.] Not the day of judgment, but the day of God’s vengeance upon the Jews, which yet bore some resemblance to that day of the Lord, and it may be therefore so called; as the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans had some likeness to it, and therefore the signs of the one and of the other are given together by our Lord in (<402401>Matthew 24:1-51) and this was a day in which he would do great things, by the Chaldeans, and against the Jews; and this is represented as very “near”; and repeated again for the confirmation of it, and to arouse the thoughtless and careless about it, and who put away this evil day far from…”

“voice of . . . day of . . . Lord--that is, Jehovah ushering in that day with a roar of vengeance against the guilty (Jer 25:30; Amo 1:2). They who will not now heed (Zep 1:12) His voice by His prophets, must heed it when uttered by the avenging foe. mighty . . . shall cry . . . bitterly--in hopeless despair; the might on which Jerusalem now prides itself, shall then fail utterly.”

“The great Day of the Lord is near - The prophet again expands the words of Joel, accumulating words expressive of the terrors of that Day, showing that though “the great and very terrible Day of the Lord” Joel 2:31, (Joel had said) “a day of darkness and gloominess, of clouds and of thick darkness” Joel 2:2, “which was then coming and nigh at hand” Joel 2:1, had come and was gone, it was only a forerunner of others; none of them final; but each, because it “was” a judgment and an instance of the justice of God, an earnest and forerunner of other judgments to the end. Again, “a great Day of the Lord was near.” This Day had itself, so to speak, many hours and divisions of the day. But each…”

“The voice if the day - The day which will come with a great noise. Zephaniah 1:15”

“1:14-18 The meaning of the day of the Lord broadens to include God’s dealings with the whole earth.”

“great: Zep 1:7; Jer 30:7; Eze 30:3; Joe 2:1, Joe 2:11, Joe 2:31; Mal 4:5; Act 2:20; Rev 6:17 it is: Eze 7:6, Eze 7:7, Eze 7:12, Eze 12:23; Amo 8:2; Phi 4:5; Jam 5:9; Pe2 2:3 even: Zep 1:10; Isa 22:4, Isa 22:5, Isa 66:6; Jer 25:36; Joe 2:11, Joe 3:16; Th1 4:16; Heb 12:26 the mighty: Isa 15:4, Isa 33:7; Jer 48:41; Rev 6:15-17 Zephaniah 1:15”

“This judgment will not be delayed. To terrify the self-secure sinners out of their careless rest, Zephaniah now carries out still further the thought only hinted at in Zep 1:7 of the near approach and terrible character of the judgment. Zep 1:14. "The great day of Jehovah is near, near and hasting greatly. Hark! the day of Jehovah, bitterly crieth the hero there. Zep 1:15. A day of fury is this day, a day of anguish and pressure, a day of devastation and desert, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and cloudy night. Zep 1:16. A day of the trumpet and battering, over the fortified cities and high battlements." The day of Jehovah is called "the great day" with reference to its effects,…”