1. Zephaniah 1:3 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is significant about the order given here?

Zephaniah 1:3 (ESV)

3 “I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.

The creatures mentioned here also appear in Genesis 1. But the order here is inverted from the order of Genesis 1. In Genesis 1:20–27, the Lord’s creation follows the order of sea creatures, birds, beasts, and man; in Zephaniah 1:3 the order of destruction is man, beasts, birds, and sea creatures. Zephaniah’s inversion of the created order makes his a de-creation order.

It is also worth noting that both passages are comprehensive in their scope. Genesis 1 has an emphasis on all things being created (the word for all occurs fourteen times). Likewise, there is a comprehensive scope of de-creation in Zephaniah 1:2–3, with its mention of the same word for “all" (Zephaniah 1:2).1