Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’s fury; but by the fire of his zeal the whole earth will be devoured, because he will make an extermination, indeed a terrible one, of all the inhabitants of the earth.’

Zephaniah 1:15–2:3.

12. Does Zephaniah’s prophecy refer only to Judah, or is it broader in its application?

¹² Even many of Christendom’s Bible researchers recognize that this prophecy did not apply just to Judah but foretold “a universal judgment upon the whole world” (Keil-Delitzsch), “the end of an age of sin” (French Ecumenical Bible), “the ‘day’ when universal judgment will be visited upon all wickedness and the wrath of God be poured out upon all who know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”​—New Bible Commentary, Second Edition.