Zephaniah 1:11
“Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →The merchant district is called to mourn, for the traders and the money-handlers will be swept away.
What Does Zephaniah 1:11 Mean?
Maktesh, likely the market hollow of Jerusalem, is told to howl. Its merchant people are cut down; all who weigh out silver are cut off. The center of commerce, the place that hummed with the confidence of wealth, becomes a place of wailing. The trade that seemed so secure proves unable to save anyone.
There is a sober lesson in the silencing of the marketplace. Riches gathered apart from God offer no protection on His day. Those who trusted in silver discover that silver cannot purchase deliverance. Jesus would later warn against laying up treasure that moth and rust destroy, urging instead a treasure in heaven that no judgment can touch. The prophet's call to howl is, beneath its grief, a plea to fix our hope on what cannot be cut off.
In the Original Language
Maktesh (מַכְּתֵׁש), 'Maktesh' -- a name meaning mortar or hollow, used of a basin-shaped quarter of Jerusalem where merchants gathered.