Zephaniah 2:13
in Zephaniah 2And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness.
KJV
And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.
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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
and destroy Assyria
on Zephaniah 2:13-15
The oracle against Assyria answers Nahum's whole book in a stanza, Nineveh made a desolation and dry like a wilderness, the city that could not be starved by siege pictured instead as ground with no water left in it at all. Flocks and beasts of the nations lying down among cormorant and bittern in the ruined lintels turn the palace's own carved cedar work into a habitat for creatures rather than kings, and the bench reads the picture as literal fulfillment once Nineveh's mounds lay abandoned for centuries. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly names Nineveh's own pride in its own words, I am, and there is none beside me, the identical boast Isaiah puts in Babylon's mouth at 47:8, one empire's arrogance quoted back at its ruin.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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
And he will stretch out his hand against the north,....
The lintels, or chapiters of the pillars, the windows and thresholds, and all the fine cedar-work curiously engraven, shall lie exposed; and on them these rueful ominous birds shall perch, and their voice shall sing. How are the songs of mirth turned into hideous horrid noises!
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Zephaniah began by singling out Judah amid the general destruction, “I will also stretch out My Hand upon Judah” Zep 1:4; he sums up the judgment of the world in the same way; “He will stretch out, or, Stretch He forth, “His Hand against the north and destroy Asshur, and make Nineveh a desolation.” Judah had, in Zephaniah’s time, nothing to fear from Assyria. Isaiah Isa 39:6 and Micah Mic 4:10 had already foretold, that the captivity would be to Babylon. Yet of Assyria alone the prophet, in his own person, expresses his own conformity with the mind of God.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Here he passes suddenly to the north. Nineveh was destroyed by Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, 625 B.C. The Scythian hordes, by an inroad into Media and thence in the southwest of Asia (thought by many to be the forces described by Zephaniah, as the invaders of Judea, rather than the Chaldeans), for a while interrupted Cyaxares' operations; but he finally succeeded.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
He will - destroy Assyria - He will overthrow the empire, and Nineveh, their metropolitan city. See on Jonah and Nahum.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
on the north Assyria is on the north, neighboring on Babylon.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
You, too, Cushites When Israel was exiled there to the other side of the rivets of Cush.
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
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְיֵ֤ט | veyet | and he may stretch out | H5186 → | |
| יָדוֹ֙ | yado | hand his | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| צָפ֔וֹן | tzafon | [the] north | H6828 → | |
| וִֽיאַבֵּ֖ד | viabed | so he may destroy | H6 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אַשּׁ֑וּר | ʾashur | Assyria | H804 → | |
| וְיָשֵׂ֤ם | veyasem | and he may make | H7760 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נִֽינְוֵה֙ | nineveh | Nineveh | H5210 → | |
| לִשְׁמָמָ֔ה | lishmamah | <into> a waste | H8077 → | 57 times |
| צִיָּ֖ה | tziyah | a dry region | H6723 → | |
| כַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃ | kamidbar | like the wilderness | H4057 → |
וְיֵ֤טand he may stretch out
veyetH5186 →
יָדוֹ֙hand his
yadoH3027 →1618 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
צָפ֔וֹן[the] north
tzafonH6828 →
וִֽיאַבֵּ֖דso he may destroy
viabedH6 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אַשּׁ֑וּרAssyria
ʾashurH804 →
וְיָשֵׂ֤םand he may make
veyasemH7760 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
נִֽינְוֵה֙Nineveh
ninevehH5210 →
לִשְׁמָמָ֔ה<into> a waste
lishmamahH8077 →57 times
צִיָּ֖הa dry region
tziyahH6723 →
כַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃like the wilderness
kamidbarH4057 →
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
Nahum 3:7Then all who see you will recoil from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated; who will grieve for her?’ Where can I find comforters for you?”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 15:5
Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
- Isaiah 51:19
These pairs have befallen you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? Who can comfort you?
- Revelation 18:10
In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
- Jeremiah 15:5
Through
Isaiah 10:12So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 50:18
Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.
- Jeremiah 50:18
Through
Nahum 1:1This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
it leads to
- Jonah 1:2
“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”
- Zechariah 9:1
This is the burden of the word of the LORD against the land of Hadrach and Damascus its resting place—for the eyes of men and of all the tribes of Israel are upon the…
- Nahum 2:8
Nineveh has been like a pool of water throughout her days, but now it is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.
- Jonah 1:2
Through
Isaiah 10:16Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s stout warriors, and under his pomp will be kindled a fire like a burning flame.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 32:21
and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every mighty man of valor and every leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he withdrew to his own land in…
- 2 Chronicles 32:21
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Zephaniah
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PlaceUpper MesopotamiaAssyriaMesopotamian empire whose capital Nineveh repented at Jonah's preaching and fell to Nahum's burden in 612 BC; the rod of God's ang…
- PlaceAssyriaNinevehThe great city of Assyria that repented in sackcloth at Jonah’s preaching, that Sennacherib returned to after Jerusalem was spared…
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zephaniah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.