What Does Zephaniah 1:14 Mean in the King James?
The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The day’s nearness turns power into a bitter cry, revealing that strength cannot keep anguish outside the voice.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s day is near, near enough that its sound fills the present moment. Even the person called mighty cries bitterly; strength does not keep anguish from reaching the voice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that being powerful means being beyond the reach of dread.
THE ROOT
קָרוֹב
qārōb
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
Approach, draw near.
The repeated word for near shares its root with the verb for approaching and with qorbān, an offering brought near. This root family makes the day’s nearness active: it is coming within reach, and the verse intensifies that approach with “hasteth greatly.”
ALSO GROWS
qārab: Approach, draw near.
קָרַב
The verb makes the verse’s nearness a movement toward the reader, not just a date on a calendar.
qorbān: Offering, something brought near.
קָרְבָּן
This branch carries the same sense of approach, sharpening the verse’s image of the day drawing close.
מַר
mar
GROWS FROM
מרר
m-r-r
Be bitter, become bitter, or embitter.
“bitterly” in this verse is mar. The cry is specifically bitter, not merely loud. The same root can describe bitterness that has entered a life, so the verse lets anguish surface as a sound from within.
ALSO GROWS
marar: Be bitter or embitter.
מָרַר
The verb gives the bitter cry its sense of anguish that has taken hold.
merorim: Bitter herbs.
מְרֹרִים
This branch gives bitterness a tangible form, showing that the word can name an embodied experience as well as an emotion.
גִּבּוֹר
gibbōr
GROWS FROM
גבר
g-b-r
Be strong, prevail, or be mighty.
“mighty man” in this verse is gibbōr. The word names someone through the language of prevailing strength, then places that figure inside a bitter cry. The tension is within the verse itself: might is present, yet it cannot keep distress silent.
ALSO GROWS
gever: Man, often with an emphasis on strength.
גֶּבֶר
This related word shows how the root connects human identity with strength.
gevurah: Might, strength, or power.
גְּבוּרָה
This branch makes the contrast vivid: power is named, but it does not prevent the cry.
THE PATTERN
As the LORD’s day draws near, human strength cannot hold its composure or secure refuge.
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;THE THREAD
And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.Zephaniah’s “bitterly” is מַר (mar, bitter), from מ־ר־ר (m-r-r), “to be bitter” or “to embitter,” the same root behind Exodus’s “made their lives bitter.” The link makes the cry more than a flash of fear: bitterness has entered the life and now breaks into voice.
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