John Gill Commentary Zephaniah 3:6

"I have cut off nations; their battlements are desolate; I have made their streets waste, so that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant." — Zephaniah 3:6 (ASV)

I have cut off the nations
Utterly destroyed them, as the Philistines, Moabites, Ethiopians, and Assyrians, as in the preceding chapters; all which were done before the coming of Christ in the flesh; and by which instances the Jews should have taken warning, lest by their sins they should provoke the Lord to destroy their nation, city, and temple:

their towers are desolate ;
built on their frontiers, or on the walls of their cities, to defend them; these were demolished, and laid waste, and of no use: or, "their corners" ^F2 ; towers being usually built on the angles or corners of walls. Some interpret this of their princes, nobles, and great men, who were destroyed; see (Zechariah 10:4) :

I made their streets waste, that none passes by ;
the streets of their cities, the houses being pulled down by the enemy, the rubbish of them lay in the streets, so that there was no passing for any; and indeed, the houses being demolished, the streets were no more in form:

their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is
no inhabitant ;
the houses being burnt with fire, or pulled down, and plundered of the goods and substance in them, and the people cut off by famine, pestilence, or sword; and the rest carried captive, there was scarce a man or inhabitant left; so general was the destruction.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F2: (Mtwnp) "anguli earum", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, Cocceius, Burkius.