Zephaniah 3:7
I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.
God expected that His punishments would bring the people to reverent fear of Him and to acceptance of instruction, so that their dwelling place would be preserved from being cut off. Instead they rose early with eagerness to do evil and corrupted all their deeds, persisting in wrongdoing rather than turning in response to correction. The same condition applies to the world in the last days, whose prevailing corruption demonstrates that it has not responded to God's correction.