Limitless Word
For the Lord will remove his hand of judgment and will disperse the armies of your enemy. And the Lord himself, the King of Israel, will live among you! At last your troubles will be over, and you will never again fear disaster.
Zephaniah 3:15 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB Yahweh has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is among you. You will not be afraid of evil any more.
  • KJV The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.
  • BSB The LORD has taken away your punishment; He has turned back your enemy. Israel’s King, the LORD, is among you; no longer will you fear any harm.
  • NKJV The Lord has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You shall see disaster no more.
  • NASB The Lord has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You will no longer fear disaster.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

God has removed His people's judgments and enemies, and the King, Yahweh, is among them so they need not fear. It matters because it grounds joy in forgiveness, deliverance, and God's saving presence.

Overview

The taking away of judgments signals pardon, while casting out the enemy signals deliverance. With Yahweh Himself as King in their midst, fear is banished. Christians see this fulfilled in Christ, the King who reigns among His people and frees them from condemnation and fear.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 39

  • Isa 51:22Thus says your Lord Yahweh, your God who pleads the cause of his people, “Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath. You will not drink it any more:
  • Isa 60:18Violence shall no more be heard in your land, nor desolation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
  • Zeph 3:5Yahweh, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame.
  • Isa 40:1–2“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
  • Amos 9:15I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,” says Yahweh your God.
  • Gen 30:23She conceived, bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
  • Ezek 39:29neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh.
  • Joel 3:20–21But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
  • Isa 33:22For Yahweh is our judge. Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king. He will save us.
  • Zech 14:11Men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely.
  • Isa 25:8He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces. He will take the reproach of his people away from off all the earth, for Yahweh has spoken it.
  • Ezek 37:24–28My servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them.
  • Zech 10:6–7“I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back; for I have mercy on them; and they will be as though I had not cast them off: for I am Yahweh their God, and I will hear them.
  • Zech 2:8–9For Yahweh of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.
  • John 1:49Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”
  • Mic 7:16–20The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf.
  • Ps 85:3You have taken away all your wrath. You have turned from the fierceness of your anger.
  • Zech 12:3It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.
  • Rom 8:33–34Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.
  • Rev 12:10I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.
  • Rev 7:15Therefore they are before the throne of God, they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them.
  • Isa 54:14In righteousness you will be established. You will be far from oppression, for you will not be afraid; and far from terror, for it shall not come near you.
  • Isa 13:1–14The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
  • Isa 65:19I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; and the voice of weeping and the voice of crying will be heard in her no more.
  • Joel 3:17“So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.
  • Ezek 48:35It shall be eighteen thousand reeds around: and the name of the city from that day shall be, Yahweh is there.
  • Mic 7:10Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, where is Yahweh your God? Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.
  • Zeph 3:17Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.
  • Hab 2:17For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.
  • Zech 9:9Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
  • Zech 8:13–15It shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Don’t be afraid. Let your hands be strong.”
  • Zech 1:14–16So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
  • John 12:15“Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”
  • John 19:19Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
  • Rev 21:3–4I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
  • Rev 19:16He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
  • Isa 35:10The Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
  • Hab 2:8Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.
  • Jer 50:1–46The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Zephaniah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Zephaniah 3:15YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ZephaniahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The day of the LORD gives way to the promise that God himself will be in the midst of his people, rejoicing over them with singing — fulfilled in the saving presence of Christ.

How Zephaniah 3:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.