Zephaniah 3:4
“Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Jerusalem's prophets are reckless and faithless, and her priests have defiled holy things and twisted God's law.
What Does Zephaniah 3:4 Mean?
The indictment of leaders continues with those who should have been most holy. Her prophets are reckless and treacherous, speaking lightly what they claim to receive from God. Her priests have polluted the sanctuary and done violence to the law, twisting what they were meant to guard. The spiritual guardians have become corrupters of the very things entrusted to them.
There is a special gravity when those who handle sacred things betray their trust. The prophets who should have spoken God's truth spoke their own; the priests who should have kept the law violated it. Such corruption poisons a people at the source. Yet this dark picture magnifies, by contrast, the faithfulness of the true Prophet and Priest who was to come, Christ, who never spoke falsely and never defiled what is holy, but fulfilled the law perfectly and opened the true sanctuary for all.
In the Original Language
chamas (חָמַס), 'violence' -- the same word used earlier in the book, here meaning to do brutal wrong, even to the sacred law itself.