Albert Barnes Commentary Zephaniah 3:1

"Woe to her that is rebellious and polluted! to the oppressing city!" — Zephaniah 3:1 (ASV)

The “woe,” having gone around the pagan nations, again circles back to where it began: Jerusalem that killed the prophets and stoned those that were sent unto her (Matthew 23:37). Woe upon her, and joy to the holy Jerusalem—the new Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12; Revelation 21:10), the Jerusalem which is from above, the mother of us all—conclude this prophecy.

Both aspects are presented figuratively: her destruction and that of the whole earth, in time, are the emblem of eternal death; and the love of God is the foretaste of endless joy in Him.

Woe – Rebellious and polluted; you oppressive city! The address is all the more abrupt, and bursts more forcefully upon her, because the prophet does not name her. He uses as her proper name—not her own name, city of peace—but rebellious, polluted; then he sums it up in one phrase: you oppressive city!

Jerusalem’s sin is threefold: actively rebelling against God, then inwardly defiled by sin, and finally cruel to man. Thus, toward God, in herself, and toward man, she is wholly turned to evil—not in passing acts, but in her abiding state:

1. Rebellious
2. Defiled
3. Oppressive

She is known only by what she has become and by what has been done for her in vain. She is rebellious, and so she had the law; she is defiled, and so she had been cleansed; and therefore, her state is all the more hopeless.