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

What is the “rubble”?

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 meaning of the word is disputed. The NASB opts for ruins, which is rather literal. The ESV is in the same line with its rubble. But the ESV’s footnote provides another option: “stumbling blocks (that is, idols).” That meaning makes good sense in context: Beasts, birds, and fish, representative of the whole creation, have become for humanity an occasion of stumbling. Because of his wickedness, humanity has twisted the good things of creation into a cause for sin. The prophet’s reference may be to idols shaped after the form of created things.1 Such stumbling blocks will be destroyed.