Zephaniah 3:5 - Exposition.

In the midst of this congregation of sinners God is continually manifesting his righteousness; he leaves not himself without witness; and therefore their iniquities are without excuse. The just Lord is in the midst thereof; or, the Lord in the midst of her is righteous ( Deuteronomy 32:4 ). His presence was associated with the temple; his moral government was always being manifested. He would not be "just" if he left sinners unpunished. Every morning; Hebrew," in the morning, in the morning." The phrase is rightly explained in our version (comp. Exodus 16:21 ; Psalms 87:5 ). Doth he bring his judgment to light. His prophets proclaim his perfect justice; his judgments on the heathen manifest it ( Zephaniah 3:8 ; Hosea 6:5 ). It is not from ignorance of the Law that the people sin. He faileth not; or, it faileth not; Vulgate, non abscoudetur. God never ceases thus to act; or, his justice is clear as (lay. But the unjust knoweth no shame. In spite of this hourly manifestation of God's justice, and the enactments of the Law so well known, the perverse nation will not amend its ways, feels no shame at its backslidings ( Jeremiah 3:3 ; Jeremiah 6:15 ). The Septuagint Version, according to the Vatican manuscript, is curious here, and in the latter part somewhat like St. Matthew's rendering of Isaiah 42:3 , καὶ οὐκ ἔγνω ἀδικίαν ἐν ἀπαιτήσει , καί οὐκ εἰς νεῖκος ἀδικίαν (comp. Matthew 12:20 ), which Jerome translates, "Nescit iniquitatem in exactione, nec insempiternum injustitiam," and explains, "When God exacts from every man the sum he has committed to him, he will not be unjust, nor allow injustice to prevail."