Zephaniah 2:12
in Zephaniah 2“You too, O Cushites, will be slain by My sword.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.
KJV
Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.
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This verse in Zephaniah 2
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 12 and following) But even you, Ethiopians, will be killed by my sword: and he will stretch out his hand over the North, and will destroy Assyria: and he will make a beautiful place desolate, and like a deserted wilderness. And flocks will lie down in the midst of it: all the beasts of the nations, and the pelican, and the hedgehog will dwell in its thresholds: the voice of the singer in the window, the raven on the top. For I will weaken its strength.
This site's exposition
ye shall be slain by my sword
The oracle against Ethiopia, or Cush, is the briefest in the chapter, a single verse where the other nations receive several, and the bench reads the brevity as pointing past Cush itself to the power actually in view. Cush ruled Egypt as its twenty fifth dynasty in this period, so a sword against Ethiopia is read by several of the older writers as a sword reaching Egypt through her ruling house, a single verse standing for an empire. The verse also prepares the book's own turn toward Cush as a place of worshippers in 3:10, judgment on the nation not closing the door on individuals within it.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Ye Ethiopians also,.... Or, "as for ye Ethiopians also" (h); not the Ethiopians in Africa beyond Egypt, at a distance from the land of Israel, and the countries before mentioned; but the inhabitants of Arabia Chusea, or Ethiopia, which lay near to Moab and Ammon; these should not escape, but suffer with their neighbours, who sometimes distressed the people of the Jews, and made war with them, being nigh them; see 2Ch 14:9, ye shall be slain by my sword; or, "the slain of my sword are they" (i); R.
Nebuchadnezzar was God's sword, the instrument in his hand with which these and other enemies were subdued and punished, Ps. xvii. The Assyrians, and Nineveh the head city of their monarchy, are next set to the bar, to receive their doom: He that is God's sword will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and make himself master of it.
3 Seek ye the L ORD , all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the L ORD 's anger. Here we see what the prophet meant in that terrible description of the approaching judgments which we had in the foregoing chapter.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:27w-of-58
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Ye Ethiopians also - Nebuchadnezzar subdued these. See Jer 46:2, Jer 46:9; Eze 30:4, Eze 30:10. See also on Amo 9:7 (note).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar (God's sword, Isa 10:5) conquered Egypt, with which Ethiopia was closely connected as its ally (Jer 46:2-9; Ye--literally, "They." The third person expresses estrangement; while doomed before God's tribunal in the second person, they are spoken of in the third as aliens from God.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by My sword - Literally, “Ye Ethiopians also, the slain of My sword are they.” Having summoned them to His throne, God speaks of them, not to them anymore; perhaps in compassion, as elsewhere in indignation . The Ethiopians were not in any direct antagonism to God and His people, but allied only to their old oppressor, Egypt. They may have been in Pharaoh Necho’s army, in resisting which, as a subject of Assyria, Josiah was slain: they are mentioned Jer 46:9 in that army which Nebuchadnezzar smote at Carchemish in the 4th year of Jehoiakim. The prophecy of Ezekiel implies rather, that Ethiopia should be involved in the calamities of Egypt, than that it should be itself invaded. “Great terror shall be in Ethiopia, ‘when the slain shall fall in Egypt’ Eze 30:4.” “Ethiopia and Lybia and Lydia etc. and all the men of the land that is in league, shall fall ‘with these,’ by the sword” Eze 30:5. “They also that ‘uphold Egypt’ shall fall” Eze 30:6. Syene, the frontier-fortress over against Ethiopia, is especially mentioned as the boundary also of the destruction. “Messengers” God says, “shall go forth from Me to make the careless Ethiopians afraid” Eze 30:9, while the storm was bursting in its full desolating force upon Egypt. All the other cities, whose destruction is foretold, are cities of lower or upper Egypt . But such a blow as that foretold by Jeremiah and Ezekiel must have fallen heavily upon the allies of Egypt. We have no details, for the Egyptians would not, and did not tell of the calamities and disgraces of their country. No one does. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
You, too, Cushites When Israel was exiled there to the other side of the rivets of Cush.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
on the north Assyria is on the north, neighboring on Babylon.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| אַתֶּ֣ם | ʾatem | you | H859 → | |
| כּוּשִׁ֔ים | kushim | O Cushites | H3569 → | |
| חַֽלְלֵ֥י | chalei | [are those] slain of | H2491 → | |
| חַרְבִּ֖י | charbi | sword my | H2719 → | |
| הֵֽמָּה׃ | hemah | they | H1992 → |
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
אַתֶּ֣םyou
ʾatemH859 →
כּוּשִׁ֔יםO Cushites
kushimH3569 →
חַֽלְלֵ֥י[are those] slain of
chaleiH2491 →
חַרְבִּ֖יsword my
charbiH2719 →
הֵֽמָּה׃they
hemahH1992 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 43:3For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
it leads to
- Isaiah 60:16
You will drink the milk of nations and nurse at the breasts of royalty; you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
- Isaiah 45:15
Truly You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
- 2 Chronicles 14:9–14
Then Zerah the Cushite came against them with an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots, and they advanced as far as Mareshah.
- Isaiah 49:26
I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your…
- Exodus 20:2
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Isaiah 60:16
Through
Isaiah 13:5They are coming from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens—the LORD and the weapons of His wrath—to destroy the whole country.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:20–46
“You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.
- Matthew 24:31
And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
- Jeremiah 50:9
For behold, I stir up and bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north. They will line up against her; from the north she will be captured. Their…
- Jeremiah 51:20–46
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Zephaniah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zephaniah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.