Matthew Poole and continuators on Zephaniah 3:7

7 I said , Surely thou wilt fear me : thou wilt receive instruction , so their dwelling should not be cut off , howsoever I punisht them : but they rose early and corrupted all their doings .

I thought (speaking as man would) I concluded what was likely, what I might expect.

O Ierusalem, O Iudah

For the many and great judgments executed upon others in thy sight, thou wilt fear, by sinning still, to provoke me.

Wilt learn thy duty to do it, thy danger to prevent it, thy sins to repent of them, thy wayes, to amend them.

Houses, Villages, Ierusalem

sackt, and burnt.

What ever I had done against them however I had chastised them, had they been bettered, humbled, and amended, I would have spared, not destroyed utterly;

but they grew worse more eager in the pursuit of their vile courses, as if the day would be too short for their [illegible: 1 letter]ins, they rise early, and begin betimes,

designedly and out of set purpose did worse and worse, when smitten they revolted more and more Isa. 1.5.