1. Zephaniah 1:12 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What do the complacent judge regarding the Lord?

Zephaniah 1:12 (ESV)

12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.’

They say, The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill. What they are in effect saying with is that the Lord exists but he does not matter or is ineffective. Therefore, he will never fulfill his promises of blessing or curse, good or ill (see further Jeremiah 5:12; Amos 9:10; Micah 3:11).1 This is not atheism so much as it is practical atheism. “All this talk of covenant obedience being rewarded and covenant disobedience being punished seemed to them as idle tales. They were quite justified in carrying on as they were. They effectively downgraded the Lord to the level of the idols, which really were incapable of acting in any way at all (Isaiah 41:23; Jeremiah 10:5)."2 In their view, God is as indifferent to their behaviour as they are.