Zephaniah 3:7 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

I said; I thought, (speaking as man would,) I concluded what was likely, what I might expect. Surely thou, O Jerusalem, O Judah, wilt fear me, for the many and great judgments executed upon others in thy sight; thou wilt fear, by sinning still, to provoke me. Thou wilt receive instruction; wilt learn thy duty, to do it; thy danger, to prevent it; thy sins, to repent of them; thy ways, to amend them. So their dwelling, houses, villages, Jerusalem, should not be out off, sacked and burned, howsoever I punished them; whatever I had done against them, however I had chastised them, had they been bettered, humbled, and amended, I would have spared, not destroyed utterly. But they rose early; but they grew worse, more eager in the pursuit of their vile courses; as if the day would be too short for their sins, they rise early, and begin betimes. Corrupted all their doings; designedly and out of set purpose did worse and worse, when smitten they revolted more and more, Isaiah 1:5.