We begin the Book of Tzefanya today. It is a short book, containing only three chapters, and its primary theme is the description of the "Day of Hashem" - the time when the wicked will be punished. Tzefanya prophesies concerning Judah, and in addition, he also prophesies about the destruction of other nations: Philistia, Ammon, Moab, and Assyria. Ultimately, he prophesies that Hashem will restore the captivity of Judah, and then all the nations will recognize Hashem.
Sefer Tzefanya is the ninth of the Trei Asar (the Twelve Minor Prophets), and Ibn Ezra offers a reason for this order: "And because Tzefanya lived in the days of Yoshiyahu, they placed him ninth, for the others were after the Babylonian exile." In other words, the three concluding books - Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi - were already after the Babylonian exile, and Tzefanya is the last one to close the pre-exilic era; therefore, he was placed as the ninth book.
Similar to the prophecies of Yonah and Nachum, Tzefanya's prophecies also foresee the downfall of Assyria and its capital, Nineveh. We have an old score to settle with Assyria: approximately a century earlier, the Assyrian empire destroyed the Kingdom of Israel, exiled the Ten Tribes to Chalach, Chavor, and the Gozan River, and devastated most of the cities of Judah, sparing only Jerusalem. Here, Tzefanya prophesies that it too is destined to fall, and so it was - as we learned in the previous books and in Sefer Chavakuk - that it fell at the hands of the armies of Babylon and Media.
דְּבַר יְהֹוָה אֲשֶׁר הָיָה אֶל צְפַנְיָה בֶּן כּוּשִׁי בֶן גְּדַלְיָה בֶּן אֲמַרְיָה בֶּן חִזְקִיָּה בִּימֵי יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ בֶן אָמוֹן מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה - The word of Hashem that came to Tzefanya son of Cushi, son of Gedalyah, son of Amaryah, son of Chizkiyah, in the days of Yoshiyahu son of Amon, king of Judah.
The only familiar name here is Chizkiyah. The Radak cites in the name of some commentators that this Chizkiyah is none other than King Chizkiyahu of Judah, whom we all know. This explanation resolves the major question: why did the prophet need to trace his lineage four generations back, something not found with the other prophets? Rather, he wished to trace his descent back to a renowned individual, and for this reason he enumerated the entire lineage until reaching King Chizkiyahu, to inform us that he was a descendant of Chizkiyahu.
However, the Radak himself writes that there is no proof of this. He does not rule it out, but there is no absolute necessity for it, as it is very possible that his ancestors were prominent figures and were therefore mentioned. The names Cushi, Gedalyah, Amaryah, and Chizkiyah do not tell us much today (and this Gedalyah is not Gedalyah ben Achikam, since here he is Gedalyah ben Amaryah), but in their day they may well have been well-known and distinguished names, which is why he enumerated that entire lineage.
Chazal say that three prophets prophesied during the reign of Yoshiyahu: Yirmeyahu, Tzefanya, and Chuldah. Yirmeyahu would prophesy in the marketplaces, Tzefanya stayed hidden and prophesied in the synagogues, and Chuldah prophesied to the women. Tzefanya's prophecy took place before Yoshiyahu and Judah repented of their evil ways, and therefore we will find severe words of rebuke here.
אָסֹף אָסֵף כֹּל מֵעַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה נְאֻם יְהֹוָה - I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth, says Hashem.
אָסֵף אָדָם וּבְהֵמָה אָסֵף עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּדְגֵי הַיָּם וְהַמַּכְשֵׁלוֹת אֶת הָרְשָׁעִים וְהִכְרַתִּי אֶת הָאָדָם מֵעַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה נְאֻם יְהֹוָה - I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks together with the wicked, and I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth, says Hashem.
Hashem states in general terms: I will gather away all that exists. The first word, asof, is from the root alef-samech-peh - gathering. The second word, asef, is from the root samech-vav-peh, as in the phrase, "I will utterly consume them, says Hashem" (Yirmeyahu 8:13), meaning they will come to an end. Rashi explains that it is as though an alef is missing here, as if written o'aseif: "I will utterly gather away all things from off the face of the earth."
Now He begins to elaborate: "I will consume man and beast, I will consume the birds of the heaven and the fish of the sea." As it says in Hoshea (chapter 4), "with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven; yes, the fish of the sea also will be gathered away." This is a poetic expression meant to convey that nothing will remain; it does not mean that literally every single fish will be gathered, but serves rather as a metaphor for the sheer scale of destruction.
The Malbim presents an alternative possibility: that the verses are meant literally. How so? Domesticated birds dwell in settled areas and shy away from desolate places. The Radak adds that seeds, fruits, and blossoms are found in settled areas, and when a settlement is destroyed, the birds migrate to another. Thus, when man is gathered away from the land, the birds depart along with him. The same applies to the fish, as both the Malbim and the Radak explain: they too move away from a desolate shore where there is no food provided by human activity. For people naturally discard vegetables and food scraps into the sea, providing nourishment for the fish; where the coast lies desolate and uninhabited, the fish are likewise gathered away from there.
"And the stumbling blocks with the wicked" - Hashem will also remove whatever causes the wicked to sin. Some explain, in accordance with Rashi, that this refers to the idols that were present, which caused the wicked to stumble into idol worship; Hashem declares: I will gather them away as well.
Yet the primary focus is: "And I will cut off man from off the face of the earth" - all the nations across the globe. For we know that Nevuchadnezzar devastated most of the nations and displaced them, just as Sancheiriv previously shuffled the peoples. Thus, there is an absolute devastation here, directed primarily at mankind. Our Sages teach that during the destruction, not a single bird flew over Eretz Yisrael for fifty-two years - illustrating just how immense the desolation was, to the point that not even animals remained. It was a complete abandonment of all living creatures.
וְנָטִיתִי יָדִי עַל יְהוּדָה וְעַל כָּל יוֹשְׁבֵי יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם וְהִכְרַתִּי מִן הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה אֶת שְׁאָר הַבַּעַל אֶת שֵׁם הַכְּמָרִים עִם הַכֹּהֲנִים - I will stretch forth My hand against Yehudah and against all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim; and I will cut off the remnant of the Baal from this place, and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests.
Until now the prophet spoke of the universal gathering, and now he explains that Hashem will stretch forth His hand against Yehudah in particular. "And I will cut off the remnant of the Baal" - why "remnant"? Because King Yoshiyahu had already eradicated the worship of the Baal, but some remnants still lingered, and it is those that are being addressed here.
"The name of the idolatrous priests (kemarim)" - the kemarim are the priests of idol worship, who serve the sun idols and worship the sun. And what is meant by "along with the priests (kohanim)"? Here the commentators diverge. The Malbim explains that this refers to the priests of Hashem, meaning that Hashem will cut off the righteous along with the wicked - in keeping with the well-known rule that when judgment strikes the wicked and the destroying angel is granted permission to ruin, he does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. The Radak, by contrast, explains that the kemarim were those who wore black robes in service of the idols, while the kohanim were the priests officiating before the idols, and both their name and memory would perish from the world. According to this view, the verse refers exclusively to the wicked - both the idolatrous ministers and their officiating priests.
וְאֶת הַמִּשְׁתַּחֲוִים עַל הַגַּגּוֹת לִצְבָא הַשָּׁמָיִם וְאֶת הַמִּשְׁתַּחֲוִים הַנִּשְׁבָּעִים לַיהֹוָה וְהַנִּשְׁבָּעִים בְּמַלְכָּם - And those who prostrate themselves upon the roofs to the host of heaven; and those who prostrate themselves and swear to Hashem, while also swearing by their Malkam.
"Those who prostrate themselves upon the roofs to the host of heaven" - these are the wicked, the Malbim explains, who would ascend to the roof to bow down to the sun, the moon, and the stars, as they were worshippers of the celestial bodies.
"And those who bow down and swear to the Lord" - here the Malbim follows his consistent approach. Just as he explained that the destruction will be absolute, encompassing both the pagan priests of the Baal and the Kohanim of the Temple of Hashem, so too here he addresses both extremes: those bowing upon the rooftops are the priests of the Baal, and those swearing to Hashem are the righteous who prostrate themselves and swear only to Hashem. And when a decree of destruction strikes, it cuts off the righteous alongside the wicked.
"And those who swear by their king (Malkam)" - opposite these two extremes lies the middle group, says the Malbim: these are the intermediates. They worship neither Hashem nor the Baal; rather, whatever the king says is what they do. Law-abiding citizens: if the king serves Hashem, they emulate him; and if the king serves the Baal, they emulate him. Therefore, the verse terms them "those who swear by their king."
Rashi, on the other hand, explains, similar to the Radak's approach, that the entire verse refers to the wicked. "Those who bow down, who swear to Hashem and swear by Malkam" - this refers to the exact same individuals: they would bow down to Hashem, and afterward they would also swear by Malkam, by idolatry, treating the idol as primary. If you do not believe in Hashem, I will swear to you by the idol; whatever you believe in, by that I will swear to you. Thus, this describes a category of wicked person who, though not as absolute as the former who served idolatry exclusively, bows both to Hashem and to idolatry. Here, too, then, Scripture is speaking of the wicked.
וְאֶת הַנְּסוֹגִים מֵאַחֲרֵי יְהֹוָה וַאֲשֶׁר לֹא בִקְשׁוּ אֶת יְהֹוָה וְלֹא דְרָשֻׁהוּ - And those who turn back from following Hashem, and those who have not sought Hashem nor inquired of Him
"Those who turn back from following Hashem" - these are those who initially served Him and later fell away. "And those who have not sought Hashem" - these are those who never sought Him from the outset and never served Him at all.
The Radak explains differently: "They have not sought Hashem," yet nevertheless they did not worship idols - meaning they vacillate between two opinions. They say in their hearts that Hashem will do neither good nor evil, so why should we seek Him out? This is the meaning of "they have not sought Hashem nor inquired of Him": they do not turn to Hashem, blessed be He, at all, yet neither do they worship idols. Up to this point, the prophet has elaborated on what he said at the outset: "And I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and I will cut off from this place" - all of these groups we have mentioned, Hashem will cut them all down.
הַס מִפְּנֵי אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה כִּי קָרוֹב יוֹם יְהֹוָה כִּי הֵכִין יְהֹוָה זֶבַח הִקְדִּישׁ קְרֻאָיו - Silence before the Lord God! For the day of Hashem is near, for Hashem has prepared a sacrifice; He has consecrated His guests
Now the prophet speaks in his own voice. Having relayed the words of God, he tells them: Silence! Let all flesh be hushed before Hashem, for the time of the day of Hashem, the Day of Judgment, is near. "For Hashem has prepared a sacrifice" - the decree has already been sealed. And the Radak explains that the sacrifice refers to the slain of the wicked; the word sacrifice (*zevach*) denotes slaughter, indicating that Hashem has prepared their day.
"He has consecrated His guests" - this continues the metaphor. "Has prepared a sacrifice" means setting a table; and once the table is set for a feast, there are also guests. "He has consecrated His guests" - He called the invitees and said to them: Come, you are already invited to the feast. And who are the guests arriving at this sacrifice, which is really a slaughter? It is Nebuchadnezzar and his armies.
The Radak, on the other hand, explains that the invited guests are of a different kind: the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field, whom Hashem invited to consume the corpses, as stated in the Tochacha (the Admonition): "And your carcass shall be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth." Thus, those invited to that slaughter are the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.
וְהָיָה בְּיוֹם זֶבַח יְהֹוָה וּפָקַדְתִּי עַל הַשָּׂרִים וְעַל בְּנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְעַל כָּל הַלֹּבְשִׁים מַלְבּוּשׁ נָכְרִי - And it shall come to pass on the day of the slaughter of Hashem, that I will punish the ministers, and the king's sons, and all who clothe themselves in foreign attire.
Now the prophet enumerates who will be struck down and killed in that decree. First, the ministers and the sons of the king will be killed - during the exile of Yechanyah and later in the exile of Tzidkiyahu - as they were the prominent figures at the outset. Afterward, "all who clothe themselves in foreign attire": these were officials appointed by the king, who wore distinctive garb, special uniforms given to them by the king following the custom of the princes of the nations. Thus, up to this point, Scripture is speaking about the elite, the notable figures: the king's sons, the ministers, and those clothed in foreign attire - people in the king's service who held high rank and wore distinctive garments setting them apart from the rest of the people. This is how the Malbim explains it.
However, the Radak cites another explanation in the name of his father: whenever they saw someone wearing a fine garment, they would rob him of it and wear it themselves. This is the meaning of "those who clothe themselves in foreign attire [malbush nochri]" - one who wears the garment of an unfamiliar, strange person [nochri]. Here, nochri does not necessarily mean a Gentile, but a stranger: wearing the clothing of a stranger whom he robbed.
The Ibn Ezra explains that they would wear very unique garments that no one else wore, as an expression of arrogance. It is called "foreign [or distinct] attire" simply because they were recognizable [nikarim] by their clothing - each walking about in exceptionally prestigious garments that made them stand out.
Another explanation, brought by Rashi, is that foreign attire refers to the garments of idolaters: they wore Gentile clothing. Targum Yonatan renders "those who clothe themselves in foreign attire" as "those who gather to worship idols"; according to this, it is a metaphorical expression: wearing foreign attire means behaving like a Gentile and serving idols like a Gentile, and it does not refer to literal garments, but serves as a figurative expression for idol worship.
The Radak brings yet another explanation: these were people who pretended and presented themselves as ascetics, pious men, and tzaddikim. They wore distinctive clothing that presented them as elevated above the common people, while at the same time their ways were evil and they deceived the public. A person would walk around like a charlatan mystic, wearing a large head covering that veiled his eyes, all so that he could carry out his deeds in the dark. If someone saw him, they would say: "Look at the cloak he wears, he must be a tzaddik!" In truth, he needed ample room underneath, in the hat, and everywhere else to stash all the money and conceal everything - and for that, a wide cloak was required. At any rate, even back then there were people who put on the guise of ascetics and pious men, dressing differently from the rest of the people so that they would be recognized and revered as righteous, pious, and abstinent.
וּפָקַדְתִּי עַל כָּל הַדּוֹלֵג עַל הַמִּפְתָּן בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא הַמְמַלְאִים בֵּית אֲדֹנֵיהֶם חָמָס וּמִרְמָה - And I will punish all who leap over the threshold on that day, who fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.
The threshold [miftan] is the entrance, the bottom part of the doorway. And whom does this refer to? The Radak explains in the name of his father that it refers to the servants of the ministers and the king's attendants: whenever they saw an item belonging to a poor man in his house that they desired, they would rush into his home. This is "leaping over the threshold" - running inside to plunder and rob the poor person. Afterward, "who fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit" - bringing the stolen property to fill their master's house with it.
Ibn Ezra follows a similar direction, except that in his view, the leaping was over the threshold of their masters' house: out of their haste and joy to fill their masters' house with violence and deceit, they would leap over the threshold when arriving to deposit the plunder there.
Targum Yonatan translates: "Against all who walk in the customs of the Philistines." Where do we find such a custom among the Philistines? In their house of idolatry, the temple of Dagon, it is stated that the priests of Dagon would not step on the threshold of Dagon. And what was the reason? When Israel went to war against the Philistines and the Philistines captured the Ark of Hashem, they took it and set it beside Dagon, their god, as if to display his dominance. They arose in the morning and found Dagon fallen face-down upon the threshold, his hands and feet severed, which signaled to them that the Ark was displaying divine wrath against them. Afterwards, they moved it from place to place and were struck with hemorrhoids, and mice emerged and gnawed at their entrails, until they finally decided to return the Ark to Israel and sent with it offerings and guilt-offerings, as we have learned in detail. From that time on, the priests of Dagon were meticulous never to step on the threshold of the house of Dagon, since that was where the idol fell, and they would leap over it instead. Thus, the people of Israel were behaving just like the Philistines.
Notice a startling Midrash. Rabbi Yirmiyah said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak: We find that Israel were stricter regarding idolatry than the nations of the world. When Israel worshipped idols, they were more scrupulous and meticulous in their idolatry than the non-Jews! How so? Regarding the nations, it is written: "Therefore the priests of Dagon do not tread [on the threshold]" - they would not step on it, but they would merely lift their foot slightly over it. Whereas regarding Israel, it is written: "Those who leap over the threshold" - they were already going to extremes; not merely not treading, but actually taking a flying leap and jumping over it! They took the meticulousness and stringency to a whole new level. And the frightening thing is that even today, one can see this tendency.
The Malbim explains that those who leap over the threshold were the servants of the ministers, and he also connects this to the Philistine priests: when the ministers' servants went to their masters' homes, they would leap over the threshold in accordance with pagan custom, and they would fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit, for they were the officers whose task was to extort and plunder. Thus, the Malbim weaves both interpretations together: both the leaping over the threshold of their masters' homes (or the homes of the poor) and the connection to the pagan priests.
וְהָיָה בַיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם יְהֹוָה קוֹל צְעָקָה מִשַּׁעַר הַדָּגִים וִילָלָה מִן הַמִּשְׁנֶה וְשֶׁבֶר גָּדוֹל מֵהַגְּבָעוֹת - "And it shall come to pass on that day, says Hashem, that there will be the sound of a cry from the Fish Gate, a wailing from the Mishneh, and a great crashing from the hills."
The Malbim explains the verse from back to front. "The hills" refers to the heights of Mount Zion, where the king and his counselors sat. Below them was "the Mishneh," from the word meaning secondary or second-in-command, where the ministers resided. And "the Fish Gate" was where the common masses resided. And what was the Fish Gate? Radak explains that there was a place in Jerusalem by this name, as we find in Ezra: "and to the Fish Gate and the Tower of Chananel," and it is very likely that they sold fish there, which is why it was called by that name.
Accordingly, the Malbim explains the gradation: "the sound of a cry from the Fish Gate" - from the dwelling of the common masses; "a wailing from the Mishneh" - from the ministers, as wailing is greater than a mere cry; and "a great crashing from the hills" - from the seat of the king and the dignitaries, where the primary ruin will take place. This aligns with what we saw earlier, "And I will punish the officials and the sons of the king" - the greatest devastation will fall upon them, for they bear the responsibility.
Radak cites an exposition of Chazal: "a wailing from the Mishneh" refers to the Beit Midrash, as it is said in Sefer Melachim, "and she lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh," which Yonatan translated as "in the house of study," meaning the Beit Midrash. As for "a great crashing from the hills," Radak explains that these are locations in Jerusalem or adjacent to it, such as Givat Garev mentioned in Yirmiyahu.
Radak also brings a Midrash Aggadah: "The Fish Gate" refers to Acre (Akko), which lies cradled in the realm of fish. "A wailing from the Mishneh" refers to Luz, which is secondary to Jerusalem and located nearby. "A great crashing from the hills" refers to Tzipori, which sits atop mountains. And in the following verse, "Wail, inhabitants of the Makhtesh" refers to Teveria, which lies lower than anywhere else in the Land of Israel. In reality, it is not the lowest place in all of the Land of Israel, for the Dead Sea is lower than it; rather, the intent is apparently regarding inhabited places, since the Dead Sea was uninhabited whereas Teveria was settled.
הֵילִילוּ יֹשְׁבֵי הַמַּכְתֵּשׁ כִּי נִדְמָה כָּל עַם כְּנַעַן נִכְרְתוּ כָּל נְטִילֵי כָסֶף - "Wail, inhabitants of the Makhtesh, for all the merchant people are silenced, all who are laden with silver are cut off."
The Malbim explains: There were also the wealthy men and merchants, who paid no attention to the ruin of the ministers because they were not in the vicinity; most of them traveled far away on business, like the Canaanites - that is, the inhabitants of Tyre, who were all merchants. They resided in a section of Jerusalem called "the Makhtesh" (the Mortar). Rashi notes that this was Nachal Kidron, and it was called this because it is a low, deep place like a mortar into which a pestle strikes. (This does not follow the Midrash of Chazal that identifies the Makhtesh with Teveria.)
The prophet tells them that they, too, will wail. Why? "For all the merchant people are silenced" - the merchants were also cut down, as "all who are laden with silver" were destroyed; there is no longer any wealth to transport, commerce has completely ceased, and because of this, they too will wail.
וְהָיָה בָּעֵת הַהִיא אֲחַפֵּשׂ אֶת יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם בַּנֵּרוֹת וּפָקַדְתִּי עַל הָאֲנָשִׁים הַקֹּפְאִים עַל שִׁמְרֵיהֶם הָאֹמְרִים בִּלְבָבָם לֹא יֵיטִיב יְהֹוָה וְלֹא יָרֵעַ - And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart: Hashem will not do good, neither will He do evil.
In this single verse, we find two well-known idioms whose origins many people are unaware of: "I searched for it with candles" (searching high and low), and "settling on one's dregs" (stagnating). Both appear here, and we will now explain their meaning.
The Malbim explains: there were people who were neither officials nor merchants; they owned houses, fields, and vineyards from which they earned their livelihood, and they dwelt in the remote corners of the city, secluded from the rest of the urban populace - what we would call the periphery. The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: Do not think that the hand of Hashem will not reach them. Know that "I will search Jerusalem with candles" - even these individuals I will search out, as it were, with a candle. And Rashi explains "I will search Jerusalem with candles" - I will scrutinize their sins thoroughly, just as one searches with a candle into crevices and cracks.
"And I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs" - like wine enclosed in a vessel that rests quietly upon its sediment. And what is the meaning of the word kof'im? The Malbim explains that it refers to something congealed, hardened, and standing in one place, not moving like flowing water. This is the root of the expression used today for something frozen (kafu), and it is similar to the verse "and curdled me like cheese" (Iyov 10:10): milk is thin and liquid, while cheese solidifies and has no movement. Ibn Ezra explains similarly.
Rashi, on the other hand, explains that ha-kof'im comes from the language of floating, like "and the iron floated" in Sefer Melachim - when Elisha and his disciples went to build a Beit Midrash and the iron axe head slipped from the handle into the river. They needed to retrieve it, and he told them to cast the wooden stick forcefully into the water, and it entered the iron and caused it to float, entirely miraculously, as we learned there. The Targum translates "and it floated" there as uchefa parzla. Thus, "settled [kof'im] on their dregs" means floating above their sediment: the wine floats quietly on top, motionless, above the dregs.
Either way, these people remain motionless, as it were. And why? Because they say in their hearts, "Hashem will not do good, neither will He do evil." The ministers and merchants - they have reason to fear the vicissitudes of time, reward and punishment; but as for us, they say, we have nothing to worry about. I am neither a merchant nor a prominent minister. They are convinced that their success is not from Hashem and that their livelihood is secured to them - fields, vineyards, and houses. Therefore, they remain settled on their dregs and see no need to change anything or mend their ways, confident that misfortune will never reach them.
וְהָיָה חֵילָם לִמְשִׁסָּה וּבָתֵּיהֶם לִשְׁמָמָה וּבָנוּ בָתִּים וְלֹא יֵשֵׁבוּ וְנָטְעוּ כְרָמִים וְלֹא יִשְׁתּוּ אֶת יֵינָם - And their wealth shall become plunder, and their houses a desolation; and they shall build houses but not inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards but not drink their wine.
"And their wealth shall become plunder" - their possessions will be looted. "And they shall build houses but not inhabit them" - the houses they build, they will not merit to dwell in for long, as they will quickly be exiled from them. Likewise, the vineyards they planted, they will only drink their wine for a brief time, as the Radak explains. The Malbim explains that Hashem's punishment will overtake them as well: in their wealth, in their houses, and in their vineyards.
קָרוֹב יוֹם יְהֹוָה הַגָּדוֹל קָרוֹב וּמַהֵר מְאֹד קוֹל יוֹם יְהֹוָה מַר צֹרֵחַ שָׁם גִּבּוֹר - The great day of Hashem is near; it is near and hastens greatly, the sound of the day of Hashem; bitterly shall a warrior cry out there.
After the prophet delivered the word of Hashem, he now says to them on his own: Know that the great and awesome day of Hashem, which is the day of judgment, is near and hastening to arrive. And what is meant by "the sound of the day of Hashem, bitterly shall a warrior cry out there"? The Malbim explains: it is as if a warrior stands and cries out in a loud voice, "The day of Hashem!", shouting at the top of his lungs that the day of Hashem has arrived. This is "the sound of the day of Hashem" - the cry itself, which the warrior shrieks there in a bitter voice.
יוֹם עֶבְרָה הַיּוֹם הַהוּא יוֹם צָרָה וּמְצוּקָה יוֹם שֹׁאָה וּמְשׁוֹאָה יוֹם חֹשֶׁךְ וַאֲפֵלָה יוֹם עָנָן וַעֲרָפֶל - That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick fog.
"A day of wrath" - a day of fury and anger. "A day of trouble and distress, a day of ruin and desolation" - shoah is disaster and distress, and mesho'ah is greater than shoah, just like the phrase "shammah umeshammah," where shammah is desolation and meshammah is an even greater desolation. Here too: there will be ruin, and there will be an even greater ruin after it. "A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick fog" - expressions for a period in which everything that occurs will bring darkness and misery, and the era will be a dark one.
יוֹם שׁוֹפָר וּתְרוּעָה עַל הֶעָרִים הַבְּצֻרוֹת וְעַל הַפִּנּוֹת הַגְּבֹהוֹת - A day of the shofar and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high battlements.
The Malbim explains: they will sound the alarm for battle in all the fortified cities and prepare for the enemy. This connects to what we saw earlier: the voice of the warrior screaming bitterly, rallying everyone - an emergency call-up, war has arrived. The shofar was used to proclaim the onset of war, so the shofar is a sign of war, sounded over the fortified cities. The teruah, by contrast, is a broken, weeping sound, sounded over the high battlements - those high corners that were not fortified and fell. What are these high corners? The towers. And why are towers called "corners" (pinot)? Because they stood at the corners of the fortress, where watchtowers were built. Ibn Ezra explains that pinot refers to hills. In any event, a signal of teruah will be sounded there, which signifies that ruin has already struck.
וַהֲצֵרֹתִי לָאָדָם וְהָלְכוּ כַּעִוְרִים כִּי לַיהֹוָה חָטָאוּ וְשֻׁפַּךְ דָּמָם כֶּעָפָר וּלְחֻמָם כַּגְּלָלִים - And I will bring distress upon man, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Hashem; and their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.
"And I will bring distress upon man" - the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will bring distress upon mankind. And who are they? Rashi explains: the people of Israel, who are called "man," as it says, "You are men (adam)" - Israel are called adam, but the nations of the world are not called adam. Yet they do not take it to heart to open their eyes and repent; instead, they walked like blind men, failing to realize that they have sinned against Hashem. Because of this, the enemy will return once again at the time of the destruction.
"And their blood shall be poured out like dust" - the Radak explains: like dust, whose dumping no one worries about. When someone spills dust outside, nobody says, "What a pity," for dust is abundant. So too, their blood will be spilled without anyone feeling anguish, poured out in heaps like discarded dust. And "their flesh like dung" - lechem in Arabic means flesh, as we find in several places in Scripture; that is, the flesh of the dead corpses will be treated like dung. Just as dung lies discarded upon the ground, so will their flesh be cast onto the earth with no one to bury them.
גַּם כַּסְפָּם גַּם זְהָבָם לֹא יוּכַל לְהַצִּילָם בְּיוֹם עֶבְרַת יְהֹוָה וּבְאֵשׁ קִנְאָתוֹ תֵּאָכֵל כָּל הָאָרֶץ כִּי כָלָה אַךְ נִבְהָלָה יַעֲשֶׂה אֵת כָּל יֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ - Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to save them on the day of Hashem's wrath, and in the fire of His jealousy the whole land shall be consumed; for He shall bring about a complete, even terrifying destruction upon all the inhabitants of the land.
Then, their silver will not save them either. For the first time, the enemy was satisfied merely to come, take silver and gold, and depart, so they said: If so, there is nothing to worry about. The prophet tells them: No. Here, the silver and gold will no longer be able to save you.
"And in the fire of His jealousy" - Hashem's zeal for the honor of His desecrated Name will burn, and this fire will consume the entire land, for it burned both the royal palace and the House of Hashem, the Beit HaMikdash. "For a full end" - complete destruction, He will make of all the inhabitants of the land.
Yet notice the Malbim's precise reading: The prophet continues, "for a full end, yet (ach) a terrifying one." And what does "ach" mean? "Ach" serves to limit. At first he stated there would be total destruction, and then he, as it were, qualifies it, saying: This is not total destruction; rather, these words come to terrify you so that you will do teshuvah, as it is written, "Yet even in those days... I will not make a full end of you." Incidentally, this explanation of the Malbim stands in contrast to the other commentators, who explain "for a full end, yet a terrifying one, He will make of all the inhabitants of the land" as meaning that He will indeed bring total destruction. But the Malbim explains that he initially spoke of destruction and then qualified it: there will not be total destruction, but rather it is all to terrify you so that you will return in teshuvah.
Chapter 1 of Tzefanya opens with the lineage of the prophet in the days of Yoshiyahu, and immediately transitions to the description of the "Day of Hashem": a sweeping gathering of man and beast, bird and fish, to the extent that no bird flew in Eretz Yisrael for fifty-two years. From there, the prophet descends into specifics: the remnant of the Baal, the idolatrous priests along with the kohanim, those who bow on the rooftops, those who swear by Hashem and by Malkam, those who turn back, and those who did not seek Him at all. "Be silent before the Lord Hashem" - for the slaughter has already been prepared and the guests invited. Then the officers, the royal princes, and those dressed in foreign attire are visited, along with those who leap over the threshold and fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit - and among them, the dreadful reality that Israel were more stringent in avodah zarah than the gentiles themselves. The outcry rises in three tiers: from the masses, from the ministers, and from the king, and even the merchants in the Makhtesh are not spared. And above all - the searching with candles for "those settled on their dregs," those people who were certain that Hashem does neither good nor harm and that no evil would reach them. Yet neither silver nor gold will save them on the day of Hashem's wrath. Ultimately, in the Malbim's view, the chapter ends with an opening of hope: "yet a terrifying one" - this is not total destruction, but an alarming fright intended to turn the heart back in teshuvah.