Zephaniahchapter 3
20 verses · Zephaniah · 640 to 622 BC · The Twelve
The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Introduction
Zephaniah, The Twelve, Zephaniah Overview.
Zephaniah's last oracle comes back from the nations to the city where he himself stood. It was spoken to a people whose rulers, judges, prophets and priests he held to account one office at a time. The chapter is prophecy in two movements, a woe followed by a song, and it closes the book. Its first hearers had lived under kings who led them into other worship, and they knew the temple's daily morning offering. Listen for where the LORD is said to be in each half. Listen also for the change in who speaks and who sings.
Context
- Who
- Judeans who had assumed the oracles against the nations were the whole message
- What
- A woe on Jerusalem for the failure of its leaders, then a promise of cleansed worship among the nations and a song of joy over a restored Zion.
- Where
- Jerusalem and Zion, the holy mountain, with the nations gathered for judgment and worshipers coming from beyond the rivers of Cush.
- When
- In the reign of Josiah, most likely before 622 BC, with a promise that looks past the exile to the return that followed it.
- Why
- To show Jerusalem that it stood under the same judgment as the nations, and to promise a humble remnant that the LORD would gather them and rejoice over them.
Historical context
The officials are called roaring lions and the judges evening wolves that leave nothing until morning. Wolves hunting at dusk are at their hungriest after a day without food, and stripping a carcass bare overnight was familiar to any shepherd. The comparison is about appetite, not ferocity.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The four offices are listed together, officials, judges, prophets, and priests, and each fails in its own way. The prophets are called reckless and treacherous men; the priests profane what is holy and do violence to the law, which meant twisting the very rulings they were appointed to teach.
The contrast drawn is with God himself, described as being in her midst every morning, showing forth his justice, the temple's daily morning sacrifice is the picture, God keeping the appointment while the men in the courts do not. And the unjust knows no shame is the diagnosis: not ignorance, but the loss of the capacity to be embarrassed.
The turn at the end includes a promise about language. God says he will give the peoples a pure lip, so that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder, a deliberate reversal of Babel, where language was confused to scatter people.
Significance
The people described as surviving are not the powerful. They are a humble and lowly remnant who take refuge in the name of the LORD, do no injustice, speak no lies, and are not afraid, a small, honest, unafraid people, which is the opposite of everything the chapter has just described.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The ending is one of the tenderest sentences in the prophets, and it is about God's own feelings: the LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you by his love, he will exult over you with loud singing. The King who is in the midst of Israel is there, in the end, singing. That day comes when he reigns on the earth, and it has not come yet.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for this lane, printed no weekly portion and no Haftarah from this chapter, and no festival reading for the book. That table carries the Haftarah of each of the fifty-four weekly portions and the books read whole at the feasts, and it carries nothing for the special Sabbaths or the fast days. This card therefore names no public reading of the chapter and leaves that question to a source that holds those readings.
The corpus joins the chapter to the weeks of the Torah portions through the works arranged by portion. Under the third verse it carries Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 32. Under the fifth verse it carries Midrash Tanchuma, Tetzaveh 12:4. Under the sixth verse it carries Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Metzora 12:1 and Midrash Tanchuma, Behar 3:1. Under the eighth verse it carries Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 19. Under the tenth verse it carries Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayetze 26.
How it is read
One commentator on this chapter carries English in the corpus. Rashi is quoted from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY, and every quotation of it is held to fifty words or fewer because the translation is modern. His lemmas, which carry the verse in the Judaica Press wording, are never quoted here.
Rashi marks the turn at the first verse. "Until now, Zephaniah was speaking of Ninveh, but now he refers to Jerusalem". He glosses the dove city as "Like a silly dove, without a heart" (Rashi on Zephaniah 3:1:1 and 3:1:2). Her judges are evening wolves "who hasten to devour their prey at night". Of her priests he writes "They did not teach it to those who inquired of them" (Rashi on Zephaniah 3:3:1 and 3:4:1).
At the fifth verse Rashi reads God's righteousness in the city's midst as His presence there. "He caused His Shechinah to rest in their midst; therefore, He cannot look upon their evil deeds" (Rashi on Zephaniah 3:5:1). The cutting off of nations in the sixth verse was a lesson for Jerusalem: "I brought retribution upon the nations so that you should see and fear" (Rashi on Zephaniah 3:6:1).
The close of the chapter Rashi reads as restoration. From beyond the rivers of Cush in the tenth verse "They will bring Me an offering". The people will not be ashamed in the eleventh verse "Because you have already suffered, and your iniquity has been expiated". The humble people of the twelfth verse is "A humble people that submits to humiliation" (Rashi on Zephaniah 3:10:1, 3:11:1 and 3:12:1). God in the midst of Zion at the seventeenth verse is "a Mighty One, Who will save [Israel] from the enemy". The ones removed from the appointed feasts at the eighteenth verse are "those who did not keep the Sabbaths and the festivals" (Rashi on Zephaniah 3:17:1 and 3:18:1). At the nineteenth verse he gives the Targum's reading and a second one beside it, an expression of crushing, which he sets beside Malachi 3:21 as Sefaria numbers it (Rashi on Zephaniah 3:19:1).
Sefaria holds no English version of the other entries of the corpus on this chapter. They are cited by ref alone: Ibn Ezra at 3:2:1, 3:4:1, 3:9:1, 3:13:1, 3:14:1, 3:16:1 and 3:20:1, and Radak at 3:2:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the first verse it holds Eikhah Rabbah, Petichta 31. On the third verse it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 32 and Pesikta Rabbati 33:1. On the fourth verse it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 49:4:1. On the fifth verse it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 6:12, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 14:24:1 and Midrash Tanchuma, Tetzaveh 12:4. On the sixth verse it holds Ein Yaakov, Yevamot 6:13, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Metzora 12:1 and Midrash Tanchuma, Behar 3:1. On the seventh verse it holds Aggadat Bereshit 58:2, Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 1:1:6 and Shemot Rabbah 41:7. On the eighth verse it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 19, Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 11:2:1 and Otzar Midrashim, Pesikta, Pesikta Chadata 28.
On the ninth verse it holds Avodah Zarah 24a:16, Berakhot 57b:20 and Bereshit Rabbah 88:7. On the tenth verse it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayetze 26, Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai, Additions 3:8 and Otzar Midrashim, Midrash Shelosha v'Arba'ah 1:3. On the eleventh verse it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:47 and Sanhedrin 98a:7. On the twelfth verse it holds Midrash Lekach Tov on Lamentations 2:13:1 and Pesikta Rabbati 9:1. On the thirteenth verse it holds Bava Metzia 106b:17, Ein Yaakov, Bava Metzia 9:4 and Kiddushin 45b:5. On the fourteenth verse it holds Midrash Tehillim 147:2, Midrash Tehillim 95:1 and Pesikta Rabbati 29:25. On the fifteenth verse it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:48, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 20:3 and Ein Yaakov, Shabbat 20:2. On the sixteenth verse it holds Midrash Tehillim 138:2.
On the eighteenth verse it holds Berakhot 28a:18 and Berakhot 28a:19. On the twentieth verse it holds Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Prayer of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai 10 and Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 21:2. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Zephaniah 3:1:1 to 3:19:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Zephaniah 3:2:1, 3:4:1, 3:9:1, 3:13:1, 3:14:1, 3:16:1 and 3:20:1, cited by ref only; Sefaria holds no English version; Radak, Radak on Zephaniah 3:2:1, cited by ref only; Sefaria holds no English version; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/zephaniah/3.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, printing no portion and no Haftarah for this chapter and no festival reading for this book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Woe to the rebellious city that takes no correction
Zephaniah 3:1-2
the city of oppressors: Jerusalem, called "the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled," becomes the target once the woe turns from the nations. Verse 2 lists four failures, from the voice she did not heed to the God she has not approached. The city is the one searched with lamps at 1:12.
Zephaniah 3:1
“The “woe,” having gone round the pagan nations, again circles round where it began, the “Jerusalem that killed the prophets and stoned those that were sent unto her” Mat 23:37. Woe upon her, and joy to the holy Jerusalem, the “new Jerusalem Rev 3:12; Rev 21:10, the Jerusalem which is from above, the mother of us all,” close this prophecy; both in figure; destruction of her and the whole earth, in time, the emblem of the eternal death; and the love of God, the foretaste of endless joy in Him. Woe - “Rebellious and polluted;” “thou oppressive city!” .”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Zephaniah 3:1
“GROTIUS says, the Hebrew is used of women who have prostituted their virtue. There is in the Hebrew Moreah; a play on the name Moriah, the hill on which the temple was built; implying the glaring contrast between their filthiness and the holiness of the worship on Moriah in which they professed to have a share. oppressing--namely, the poor, weak, widows, orphans and strangers (Jer 22:3).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
She heeded no voice: Verse 2 lists four failures in a row. The voice, in the Targum's explanation cited by John Gill, is the voice of the prophets who warned the city. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown observe that God was near to her, citing Deuteronomy 4:7, while she never drew near to Him.
Zephaniah 3:2
“Lord--Distrust in the Lord as if He were insufficient, is the parent of all superstitions and wickednesses [CALVIN]. drew not near to her God--Though God was specially near to her (De 4:7) as "her God," yet she drew not near to Him, but gratuitously estranged herself from Him.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Zephaniah 3:2
“She obeyed not the voice,.... Of his servants the prophets, as the Targum, by way of explanation, adds, who warned her of her sins and of her ruin.”
Zephaniah 3:3-4
her judges are evening wolves: The officials are named in turn: princes who are "roaring lions," judges who are "evening wolves," and prophets who are "reckless, faithless men." The list closes on priests who "do violence to the law" they were set to teach, the charge Ezekiel also brings against Jerusalem's priests.
Zephaniah 3:3
“Her princes within her are roaring lions,.... Or, "as roaring lions"; there being a defect of the note of similitude; which is supplied by the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions.”
Her prophets are reckless, faithless men: The prophets and priests close the list of offices, the two meant to speak for God and to teach His law. Matthew Henry pictures prophets so given to jesting that no one could tell when they were serious. The priests did violence to the law they taught.
Zephaniah 3:4
“Her prophets are light and treacherous persons,.... The false prophets, as the Targum and Kimchi explain it: these seem to design the lawyers spoken of in the New Testament, whose business it was to interpret the law to the people; these were "light" men, good for nothing, of no worth and value; light in knowledge, as Kimchi gives the sense of the word; men of no brains; empty headed men, that had no substantial knowledge; giddy, unstable, and inconstant, and compliant with the humours and vices of the people; men of no gravity in their countenance, speech, and conversation.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zephaniah 3:4
“They were so given to bantering that it was hard to say when they were serious. Their pretended prophecies were all a sham, and they secretly laughed at those that were deluded by them. Her priests, who are teachers by office and have the charge of the holy things, are false to their trust and betray it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
He applies His justice: The verse sets the LORD "within her," who "is righteous" and "does no wrong." The line "He applies His justice morning by morning" can mean His righteous rule shown each day or Jerusalem's sin brought to light each day. The last charge is "yet the unjust know no shame."
Zephaniah 3:5
“The just Lord--Why then are ye so unjust? is in the midst thereof--He retorts on them their own boast, "Is not the Lord among us" (Mic 3:11)? True He is, but it is for another end from what ye think [CALVIN]; namely, to lead you by the example of His righteousness to be righteous.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Zephaniah 3:5
“But, beside these “evening wolves in the midst of her,” there standeth Another “in the midst of her,” whom they knew not, and so, very near to them although they would not draw near to Him. But He was near, to behold all the iniquities which they did in the very city and place called by His Name and in His very presence; He was in her to protect, foster her with a father’s love, but she, presuming on His mercy, had cast it off.”
Zephaniah 3:6-7
The LORD points Jerusalem to the nations He has already judged, "their corner towers" destroyed, a warning carried out before her eyes. Verse 7 states the purpose, "Surely you will fear Me and accept correction." "But they rose early to corrupt all their deeds."
Zephaniah 3:6
“I had hoped that My people by My judgments on other nations would be led to amendment; but they are not, so blinded by sin are they. towers--literally, "angles" or "corners"; hence the towers built at the angles of their city walls.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The LORD expected the fall of the nations to teach Jerusalem. Albert Barnes reads the expectation as what such judgments ought to produce in anyone who watches them fall on others. The city instead rose early to corrupt its deeds, with the eagerness of the faithful turned toward wrong.
Zephaniah 3:7
“Their wickedness was universal: All their doings were corrupted; and it was all owing to themselves; they could not lay the blame upon the tempter, but they alone must bear it; they themselves wilfully and designedly corrupted all their doings; for every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust and enticed.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
A pure language, and a meek remnant left in her midst
"Therefore wait for Me" turns a verse of judgment into a call to trust the LORD's timing. His decision is "to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms," a sentence on "all the earth." The phrase "the fire of My jealousy" repeats the words that close chapter 1 at 1:18.
Zephaniah 3:8
“Wait ye upon me - Expect the fulfilment of all my promises and threatenings: I am God, and change not. For all the earth - All the land of Judah.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zephaniah 3:9-10
I will restore pure lips: s to the peoples" renders a Hebrew phrase meaning a purified lip, speech cleansed of the divided oaths of 1:5. In verse 10 worshipers come "From beyond the rivers of Cush," the nation put to the sword at 2:12.
Zephaniah 3:9
“For--The blessed things promised in this and Zep 3:10 are the immediate results of the punishment inflicted on the nations, mentioned in Zep 3:8 (compare Zep 3:19). turn to the people a pure language--that is, changing their impure language I will give to them again a pure language (literally, "lip"). Compare for this Hebrew idiom, 1Sa 10:9, Margin.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Zephaniah 3:9
“For then - In the order of God’s mercies. The deliverance from Babylon was the forerunner of that of the Gospel, which was its object. The spread of the Gospel then is spoken of in the connection of God’s Providence and plan, and time is overlooked. Its blessings are spoken of, as “then” given when the earnest was given, and the people, from whom according to the flesh Christ was to be born, were placed anew in the land where He was to be born.”
From beyond the rivers of Cush: Cush was the far southern edge of the world Judah knew. John Gill leaves open whether the rivers of Cush mean the African kingdom or a land of that name in Arabia. Matthew Henry reads the worshipers and their offering as the Gentiles offering themselves to God, citing Romans 15:16.
Zephaniah 3:10
“From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,.... Either the African Ethiopia, or Arabia Chusea, which lay between Judea and Egypt: here some particular places and people are mentioned, in whom the preceding prophecy would be fulfilled.”
2 more voices on this verse
Zephaniah 3:10
“From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia - This may denote both Africa and the southern Arabia. Bochart thinks that Arabia Chusaer is meant; and that the rivers are Besor, which flows into the Mediterranean; Rhinocorura, which flows into the Lake Sirbonis; Trajanus Amnis, which flows into the Red Sea; and the river Corys. Calmet thinks that these rivers mean the Nile, which by seven mouths falls into the Mediterranean. The Nile comes from Ethiopia, properly so called; and runs through all Egypt, and falls into the sea at that part of Arabia which the Scripture calls Cush or Ethiopia.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zephaniah 3:10
If anyone is able, insofar as he found that Israel is saved "after the full number of pagan nations," let him consider having passed over by reason the remaining period, when it is that "all serve God under a single yoke," according to what is said in Zephaniah, "And from the ends of Ethiopia they offer sacrifices to him," when, as it is said in the sixty-seventh psalm, "Ethiopia stretches forth its hand to God," and "to the kings of the earth" the word commands, saying, "Sing to the Lord, raise a psalm to the God of Jacob."
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Homilies on Jeremiah 5:4.3patristic
Zephaniah 3:11-13
I will remove from among you: Shame lifts when the LORD removes "those who rejoice in their pride." Verse 12 leaves "a meek and humble people," the remnant the book has traced from the humble of 2:3. They will "feed and lie down, with no one to make them tremble," the peace of Micah 4:4.
Zephaniah 3:11
“In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings - Because God, forgiving them, will blot them out and no more remember them. This was first fulfilled in the Gospel. Cyril: “No one can doubt that when Christ came in the flesh, there was an amnesty and remission to all who believed. ‘For we are justified not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His great mercy.’ But we have been released from shame.”
a meek and humble people: The people left in the city are the lowly, who have nothing to trust but the name of the LORD. Matthew Henry recalls that the Babylonians left the poorest of the land behind as vinedressers and farmers. He reads them as a figure of God's remnant.
Zephaniah 3:12
“When the Chaldeans carried away the Jews into captivity they left of the poor of the land for vine-dressers and husbandmen, a type and figure of God's distinguished remnant, whom he sets apart for himself. They are afflicted and poor, low in the world; such God has chosen, James ii. The poor are evangelized, low in their own eyes, afflicted for sin, poor in spirit.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The remnant of Israel will no longer do wrong: The remnant of Israel will speak no lies, and its safety follows from its honesty. They will feed and lie down like a flock, with no one to make them tremble, as in Micah 4:4. Albert Barnes, quoting Cyril, calls these virtues a spiritual adornment.
Zephaniah 3:13
“The remnant of Israel - The same poor people, the “true Israel” of whom God said, “I leave over” (the word is the same) “a poor people,” few, compared with the rest who were blinded; of whom the Lord said, “I know whom I have chosen” Joh 13:18. These “shall not do iniquity nor speak lies.” Cyril: “This is a spiritual adorning, a most beautiful coronet of glorious virtues.”
Sing, daughter of Zion: he will rejoice over you with singing
Zephaniah 3:14-17
Sing for joy: y, O Daughter of Zion" answers the woes of the book. Verse 15 names the ruler, "Israel’s King, the LORD, is among you," in the city searched with lamps at 1:12. In verse 17 the one who is "mighty to save" will "rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:14
“Thus the "Redeemer shall come to Zion," and to clear his own way, shall "turn away ungodliness from Jacob." These promises were to have their full accomplishment in gospel-times and gospel-graces. The Depravity of Jerusalem. 1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The LORD has taken away your punishment: The punishment is lifted and the enemy turned back before the King is named. Israel's King is the LORD Himself, present among them. Cyril of Alexandria read the verse of the church, set free in Christ from the powers of evil.
Zephaniah 3:15
“The spiritual and holy Zion—that is, the church, the holy multitude of the believers—is justified in Christ and only in him. By him and through him we are also saved as we escape from the harm of the invisible enemies, for we have a Mediator who was incarnated in our form, the king of all, that is, the Word of God the Father. Thanks to him, we do not see evil anymore, for we have been delivered from the powers of evil.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Zephaniah 43patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Zephaniah 3:15
“Taken away - Abolished, and put an end to the judgments thy sins brought upon thee. Thine enemy - The Babylonian. Is in the midst - He is returned to redeem and govern thee.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Hands that fall limp are the Hebrew picture of despair. Adam Clarke applies Do not fear, O Zion first to the temple rebuilt after the return from Babylon, and then to zeal in the church. Theodoret of Cyrus allowed the first reading and looked past it to a fuller one.
Zephaniah 3:16
“Fear thou not - Thou shalt have no more captivities nor national afflictions. Let not thine hands be slack - This may refer, first, to the rebuilding of the temple of God, after the return from Babylon; and, secondly, to their diligence and zeal in the Christian Church.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
He is mighty to save: Mighty to save is a warrior's title. The same warrior then rejoices over His people, quiets them with His love and sings over them. Matthew Henry puts it that God loves His saints and loves to love them.
Zephaniah 3:17
“The great God not only loves his saints, but he loves to love them, is pleased that he has pitched upon these objects of his love. He will joy over them with singing. He that is grieved for the sin of sinners rejoices in the graces and services of the saints, and is ready to express that joy by singing over them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Zephaniah 3:18-20
Those "who grieve over the appointed feasts" are exiles mourning the worship they can no longer keep. In verse 19 He will "save the lame and gather the scattered," the remnant of Micah 4:6-7. The last verse gives them "fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth."
Zephaniah 3:18
“I will gather - sorrowful - This may refer to those who, during the captivity, mourned for their former religious assemblies; and who were reproached by their enemies, because they could not enjoy their religious solemnities. See Psa 137:1-9: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song,” etc. This very circumstance may be the reference here.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I will save the lame and gather the scattered: The lame and the scattered are the flock at its weakest, the same pair Micah 4:6 and 7 names in its promise of return. Matthew Henry notes that disgrace cuts deepest for a people once honoured. Their disgrace becomes fame where they bore it.
Zephaniah 3:19
“Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee,.... Or, "I will do" (w); their business for them; "slay" them, as the Vulgate Latin version; and make an entire destruction of them, as the Targum; bring them to utter ruin.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zephaniah 3:19
“The reproach brought upon them was therefore one of the sorest of their grievances (nothing cuts deeper to those that are in honour than disgrace does); and therefore when God returns, in mercy, to his church, it is here promised that she shall regain her credit; all the reproach shall be for ever rolled way, as Israel's at Gilgal, Josh. v. 9 .”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
At that time I will bring you in: At that time the LORD will gather and bring them in. Adam Clarke reads the promise first of the return after seventy years in Babylon. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that captives is plural in the Hebrew, covering the exiles of many ages, restored before your very eyes.
Zephaniah 3:20
“At that time - First, when the seventy years of the Babylonish captivity shall terminate. “I will bring you again” to your own land; and this restoration shall be a type of their redemption from sin and iniquity; and at this time, and at this only, will they have a name and praise among all the people of the earth, not only among the Jews, but the Gentiles. Before your eyes - Some read before Their eyes; that is, the eyes of all people.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Zephaniah 3:20
“The Hebrew is plural, "captivities"; to express the captivities of different ages of their history, as well as the diversity of places in which they were and are dispersed. before your eyes--Incredible as the event may seem, your own eyes with delight shall see it.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Keep studying
Studies7
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Zephaniah; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Zephaniah.