Zephaniah 3:9
in Zephaniah 3For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For then will I turn to the peoples of a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve him with one consent.
KJV
For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.
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This verse in Zephaniah 3
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(Verse 8, 9.) Therefore, wait for me, says the Lord, in the day of my resurrection in the future: because I will gather the nations and gather the kingdoms to judge them, and I will pour out my indignation, all the fury of my wrath, for in the fire of my zeal all the earth shall be consumed. For then I will restore to the peoples a pure speech, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord and serve Him with one accord.
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 Fathers2 voices
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 Awakening2 voices
For then will I turn to the people a pure language,....
That the worship of God, according to his will, shall be more closely applied to, and more unanimously concurred in. Instead of sacrifice and incense, they shall call upon the name of the Lord. Prayer is the spiritual offering with which God must be honoured; and, to prepare and fit us for that duty, it is necessary that we have a pure language.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
Will I turn to the people - This promise must refer to the conversion of the Jews under the Gospel. That they may all call - That the whole nation may invoke God by Christ, and serve him with one consent; not one unbeliever being found among them. The pure language, שפה ברורה saphah berurah, may here mean the form of religious worship. They had been before idolaters: now God promises to restore his pure worship among them. The word has certainly this meaning in Psa 81:6; where, as God is the speaker, the words should not be rendered, “I heard a language which I understood not,” but, “I heard a religious confession, which I approved not.” See Isa 19:18; Hos 14:3; and see Joe 2:28, where a similar promise is found.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
From the other side of the rivers of Cush They will bring Me an offering.
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
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אָ֛ז | ʾaz | then | H227 → | |
| אֶהְפֹּ֥ךְ | ʾehpokh | I will restore | H2015 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| עַמִּ֖ים | ʾamim | peoples | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| שָׂפָ֣ה | safah | a lip | H8193 → | |
| בְרוּרָ֑ה | verurah | purified | H1305 → | |
| לִקְרֹ֤א | likro' | to call | H7121 → | |
| כֻלָּם֙ | khulam | all of them | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בְּשֵׁ֣ם | beshem | on [the] name of | H8034 → | 864 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| לְעָבְד֖וֹ | leavedo | to serve him | H5647 → | |
| שְׁכֶ֥ם | shekhem | a shoulder | H7926 → | |
| אֶחָֽד׃ | ʾechad | one | H259 → |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אָ֛זthen
ʾazH227 →
אֶהְפֹּ֥ךְI will restore
ʾehpokhH2015 →
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
עַמִּ֖יםpeoples
ʾamimH5971 →1873 times
שָׂפָ֣הa lip
safahH8193 →
בְרוּרָ֑הpurified
verurahH1305 →
לִקְרֹ֤אto call
likro'H7121 →
כֻלָּם֙all of them
khulamH3605 →5413 times
בְּשֵׁ֣םon [the] name of
beshemH8034 →864 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
לְעָבְד֖וֹto serve him
leavedoH5647 →
שְׁכֶ֥םa shoulder
shekhemH7926 →
אֶחָֽד׃one
ʾechadH259 →
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
Psalms 22:27All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.
it leads to
- Psalms 86:9
All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.
- Isaiah 45:22
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
- Revelation 7:9–12
After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes…
- Psalms 2:8
Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession.
- Isaiah 49:6
He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light…
- Psalms 86:9
Through
Genesis 11:1Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech.
it leads to
- Acts 2:6
And when this sound rang out, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking his own language.
- Acts 2:6
Through
Zechariah 2:11“On that day many nations will join themselves to the LORD, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me…
it leads to
- Revelation 11:15
Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign…
- 1 Peter 2:9–10
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- Revelation 11:15
Where this verse is studied
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Studies3
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About Zephaniah
This page draws on 11 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) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.