1. Zephaniah 2:2 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is meant by the Lord’s “burning anger”?

Zephaniah 2:2 (ESV)

2 before the decree takes effect before the day passes away like chaff before there comes upon you the burning anger of the LORD, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the LORD.

Literally, Zephaniah writes, heat of the anger. The word for heat occurs thirty-four times in the Old Testament, and is used only of divine anger (e.g., Jonah 3:9; Nahum 1:6).1