Zephaniah 3:10
in Zephaniah 3From beyond the rivers of Cush My worshipers, My scattered people, will bring Me an offering.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.
KJV
From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.
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This verse in Zephaniah 3
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 10 onwards) Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, there my scattered children, the offspring of my dispersed ones, will bring a gift to me. On that day you will no longer be ashamed of all your rebellious acts against me, for then I will remove from your midst those who proudly boast of their arrogance, and you will no longer exalt yourself on my holy mountain. I will leave in your midst a humble and oppressed people, and they will trust in the name of the Lord.
This site's exposition
a pure language
on Zephaniah 3:9-10
A pure language, literally a purified lip, is read by the bench most often as purified speech rather than a single restored tongue, worship cleansed of the false names and divided oaths condemned back at 1:5, so that calling on the Lord's name is no longer mixed with Malcham's. To serve him with one consent, literally with one shoulder, pictures the nations bearing a common burden together rather than merely speaking alike, a unity of service the older writers read forward to the church gathered from every tongue. Verse 10's suppliants from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia carries the same nation singled out for judgment at 2:12 now pictured bringing an offering, the reversal the book has already shown Philistia, Moab and Ammon.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
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."
A commentator
John ChrysostomDEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 6:9 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
Since this text did not literally refer to wild beasts, let the Jews say when this actually happened. For a wolf has never pastured a lamb. If it were to happen that they would pasture together, how would this benefit the human race? The text referred not to wild beasts but to wild people. It referred to Scythians, to Thracians, to Mauretanians, to Indians, to Sarmatians, to Persians. Another prophet made it clear that all these nations would be brought under one yoke when he said, "And they shall serve him under one yoke, and each one shall adore him from his own place." No longer, he said, will people worship him in Jerusalem but everywhere throughout the world. No longer are people bidden to go up to Jerusalem, but each one shall remain in his own home and offer this worship.
A commentator
John ChrysostomDEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 17:7 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
Another prophet again made clear the way God would be worshiped. "They shall each adore him in his own place and serve him under one yoke." And again another prophet said, "The virgin of Israel had fallen. Never more shall she rise." And Daniel explained clearly that everything would be destroyed—the sacrifice, the libation, the anointing, the judgment.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book 21.33 · Written before 604.
proposed
Because bodily action is carried on by the shoulder and the arm, if the good things which he put forth with the lips he did not fulfil in deed, he wishes to himself 'the shoulder to fall,' and 'the arm to be broken in pieces.' As though he said in plain words, 'If the things that I said I refused to do, this very member of my body, which was given to me for working withal, may I lose, that surely that may fall from the body which I would not exercise to advantage.' But if this sentence of a curse is to be referred to a spiritual meaning, it is doubtless plain that the arm is joined to the body by the shoulders, and as by the arm good practice, so by the shoulder the knitting together of social life, is denoted. Whence too the Prophet, regarding the holy peoples of the Church universal, that should serve God in concord, says, And they shall serve Him with one shoulder.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
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.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
(2.) With their spiritual sacrifices: They shall bring my offering, shall bring themselves as spiritual sacrifices to God ( Rom. xii. 1 ); the conversion of the Gentiles is called the offering up of the Gentiles ( Rom. xv. 16 ); and with themselves they shall bring the gospel-sacrifices of prayer, and praise, and alms, with which God is well pleased.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Probably the Abyssinian Christians were originally in part converted Jews. They are here made the representatives of all Israel which is to be restored. shall bring mine offering--that is, the offering that is My right. I prefer, with DE WETTE and Chaldee Version, making "suppliants" the objective case, not the nominative.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia - (See Isa 18:1.) The farthest southern people, with whom the Jews had contact, stand as the type of the whole world beyond. The utmost bound of the known inhabited land should not be the bound of the Gospel. The conversion of Abyssinia is one, but the narrowest fulfillment of the prophecy. The whole new world, though not in the mind of the prophet, was in the mind of Him who spake by the prophet. My suppliants - He names them as what they shall be when they shall come to Him. They shall come, as needy, to the Fountain of all good, asking for mercy of the unfailing Source of all mercy. He describes the very character of all who come to God through Christ. “The daughter of My dispersed.” God is, in the way of Providence, the Father of all, although, by sin, alienated from Him; from where Paul says, “we are the offspring of God” Act 17:28. They were “dispersed,” severed from the oneness in Him and from His house and family; yet still, looking on them as already belonging to Him, He calls them, “My dispersed,” as by Caiaphas, being high priest, He prophesied that “Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad” Joh 11:51-52. Shall bring Mine offering - o The offering is the same as that which Malachi prophesies shall continue under the New Testament, which offering was to be offered to the Name of God, not in Jerusalem, but Mal 1:11 “in every place from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same.” The dark skin of the Ethiopian is the image of ingrained sin, which man could not efface or change Jer 13:23: their conversion then declares how those steeped in sin shall be cleansed from all their darkness of mind, and washed white from their sins in Baptism and beautified by the grace of God. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
From the other side of the rivers of Cush They will bring Me an offering.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
you shall not be ashamed of all your deeds Because you have already suffered, and your iniquity has been expiated.
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. 4 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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵעֵ֖בֶר | meever | from [the] other side | H5676 → | |
| לְנַֽהֲרֵי־ | lenaharei- | of [the] rivers of | H5104 → | |
| כ֑וּשׁ | khush | Cush | H3568 → | |
| עֲתָרַי֙ | ʾatarai | worshippers my | H6282 → | |
| בַּת־ | bat- | [the] daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| פוּצַ֔י | putzai | scattered [ones] my | H6327 → | |
| יוֹבִל֖וּן | yoilun | they will bring ! | H2986 → | |
| מִנְחָתִֽי׃ | minchati | offering my | H4503 → |
מֵעֵ֖בֶרfrom [the] other side
meeverH5676 →
לְנַֽהֲרֵי־of [the] rivers of
lenaharei-H5104 →
כ֑וּשׁCush
khushH3568 →
עֲתָרַי֙worshippers my
ʾataraiH6282 →
בַּת־[the] daughter of
bat-H1323 →588 times
פוּצַ֔יscattered [ones] my
putzaiH6327 →
יוֹבִל֖וּןthey will bring !
yoilunH2986 →
מִנְחָתִֽי׃offering my
minchatiH4503 →
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
1 Peter 1:1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the elect who are exiles of the Dispersion throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen
it leads to
- James 1:1
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion: Greetings.
- Acts 2:5–11
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
- Ephesians 2:19
Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,
- Hebrews 11:13
All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the…
- 1 Peter 2:11
Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
- James 1:1
Through
Romans 15:16to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy…
it leads to
- Romans 11:13
I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
- Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God—
- Romans 11:13
Through
Psalms 68:31Envoys will arrive from Egypt; Cush will stretch out her hands to God.
it leads to
- Isaiah 45:14
This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge…
- Isaiah 45:14
Where this verse is studied
About Zephaniah
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book 21.33; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zephaniah; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Chrysostom, DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 6:9; John Chrysostom, DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 17:7; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 5:4.3.