Zephaniah 1:3 (DBY)

Passage

I will take away man and beast; I will take away the fowl of the heavens and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked, and I will cut off mankind from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah.

Nearby Context

Zephaniah 1:1 The word of Jehovah that came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

Zephaniah 1:2 I will utterly take away everything from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah:

Zephaniah 1:3 I will take away man and beast; I will take away the fowl of the heavens and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked, and I will cut off mankind from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah.

Zephaniah 1:4 And I will stretch forth my hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, the name of the Chemarim with the priests;

Zephaniah 1:5 and them that bow down to the host of the heavens upon the housetops; and them that bow down to Jehovah, that swear by [him], and swear by Malcham;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "take", "away", "beast", "fowl", "heavens", and "fishes". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "take" and "away", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "I will utterly take away everything from..." into verse 4's "And I will stretch forth my hand...", so "take" and "away" belong inside that flow. In Zephaniah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "take" and "away" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.