Albert Barnes Commentary Zephaniah 1:11

"Wail, ye inhabitants of Maktesh; for all the people of Canaan are undone; all they that were laden with silver are cut off." — Zephaniah 1:11 (ASV)

Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh - Literally, "Mortar." Jerome says: "In which corn is pounded; a hollow vessel, and fit for the use of medical men, in which ptisans are properly accustomed to be beaten (or made). It is striking that Scripture does not say, 'who dwell in the valley or in the alley,' but who 'dwell in the mortar,' because as corn, when the pestle strikes, is bruised, so the army of the enemy will rush down upon you" (Jerome).

The place intended is probably that part of the Tyropoeon Valley, which intersected Jerusalem from north to south, enclosed by the second wall on the north and the first wall on the south. The valley "extended as far as the fountain of Siloam" and united with the Valley of Jehoshaphat a little below Ophel. It was "full of houses."

From its name and situation, it was probably the scene of petty merchandise. Here, opportunities for people to break the law and offend God were more constant, because these actions entered into and became part of their daily life. The sound of the pestle was continually heard there; another sound would afterward be heard, when they would not bruise, but be bruised themselves. The name "Maktesh" was probably chosen to express how their false hopes—grounded on the presence of God’s temple among them even while they profaned it by their sins—would be turned into true fears.

They had been, and had thought themselves, "Mikdash"—a holy place, a sanctuary. Instead, they would become "Maktesh," where all would be utterly bruised to pieces.

Jerome: "Whoever considers the calamities of that siege, and how the city was pressed and hemmed in, will feel how aptly he calls them 'the inhabitants of a mortar.' For, as grains of corn are brought together into a mortar so that, when the pestle descends, being unable to fly off, they may be bruised, so the people, flowing together out of all the countries of Judea, were hemmed in by a sudden siege and, through the savage cruelty of the aforementioned leaders of the sedition, were unutterably tortured from within, more than by the enemy without."

For all the merchant people are cut down - (Literally, "the people of Canaan"). That is, the Chaldee paraphrase says: "they who in deeds are like the people of Canaan," according to the saying, Thou art of Canaan and not of Judah, and, Thy father is an Amorite and thy mother a Hittite (Ezekiel 16:3). So our Lord says to the reprobate Jews, Ye are of your father the devil (John 8:44).

All they that bear silver are cut off - (Literally, "all laden with"). The silver with which they load themselves, being wrongfully acquired, is a load upon them, weighing them down until they are destroyed.