Zephaniah 1:3
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
The verse declares a sweeping judgment in which God consumes man and beast, consumes the fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea, and removes the stumblingblocks together with the wicked, cutting off man from off the land. In its setting that consuming judgment is directed against Judah and Jerusalem, against idolaters and the unfaithful and those who do not seek God. It belongs to the prophecy of the approaching great day of the Lord. That day is a day of wrath and distress when the land is devoured.
In that day the inhabitants of the land will not be able to escape by wealth. The verse applies to the destructive spread of lawlessness and determined wickedness, and is literally fulfilled in the course of people who have received great light and many opportunities to know God's ways but do not live by His Word. It foretells universal destruction and desolation for the last day that will soon be witnessed literally and universally just as described, as surely as the desolation of San Francisco was witnessed. The desolation it foretells is part of coming judgments upon cities.
Before that day the meek are urged to seek the Lord and to seek righteousness and meekness. The verse carries the warning to be ready, because the Son of man comes in an hour that is not expected.