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Zephaniah 2

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A Call to Repentance and Gathering 1–3

1
Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation that hath no shame; ​
2
before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Jehovah come upon you, before the day of Jehovah’s anger come upon you. ​
3
Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah’s anger. ​

Judgment on Philistia (The West) 4–7

4
For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up. ​
5
Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea-coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Jehovah is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines; I will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. ​
6
And the sea-coast shall be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.
7
And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed their flocks thereupon; in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening; for Jehovah their God will visit them, and bring back their captivity. ​

Judgment on Moab and Ammon (The East) 8–11

8
I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, wherewith they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. ​
9
Therefore as I live, saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall make a prey of them, and the remnant of my nation shall inherit them. ​
10
This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Jehovah of hosts. ​
11
Jehovah will be terrible unto them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the nations. ​

Judgment on the Ethiopians and Assyria 12–15

12
Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. ​
13
And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness. ​
14
And herds shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the pelican and the porcupine shall lodge in the capitals thereof; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he hath laid bare the cedar-work. ​
15
This is the joyous city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none besides me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Zephaniah 2

Verse 1

Gather yourselves together — Qashash is the verb for gathering straw (Ex 5:7) and sticks (Num 15:32), so the call is to come together like stubble. 'Not desired' is kasaph, to long for, the verb of 'My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD' (Ps 84:2): a nation with no longing. The summons is like that of Joel 1:14, 'call a solemn assembly'.

Verse 2

before the day pass as the chaff — Four 'before' clauses press the warning. The 'decree' (choq) is the LORD's appointed sentence. Chaff is what 'the wind driveth away' (Ps 1:4), and Hos 13:3 uses it of a people that vanishes. The anger is that of 'the day of the LORD'S wrath' (1:18), and v.3 names the way of escape.

Verse 3

all ye meek of the earth — The meek are those who 'shall inherit the earth' (Ps 37:11; Matt 5:5). 'Seek' (baqash) is repeated three times: the LORD, righteousness, meekness. 'It may be' (ulay) is the language of Amos 5:15, 'it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious'. To be 'hid' (sathar) is the shelter of Ps 27:5; Isa 26:20 uses another verb.

Verse 4

Gaza shall be forsaken — The names play on the sound of the Hebrew: Azzah ('Gaza') azubah ('forsaken'), and Ekron teaqer ('rooted up'). Four of the five Philistine lords are named; Gath, the fifth, is not (Josh 13:3). Zechariah 9:5 names Ashkelon, Gaza and Ekron together in a like judgment, and Jeremiah 47 is the word of the LORD against the Philistines.

Verse 5

the nation of the Cherethites — The Cherethites held the southern coast: David's men raided 'the south of the Cherethites' (1 Sam 30:14), and Ezek 25:16 speaks of the LORD cutting them off with the Philistines. 'Canaan' is applied to the Philistine land, as Josh 13:3 counts it 'to the Canaanite'. 'Destroy' (abad) is also the verb used against Assyria in v.13.

Verse 7

the coast shall be for the remnant — The sea coast of v.5 is given to Judah's remnant. 'Lie down' (rabats) is the shepherd's word of Ps 23:2, and returns for flocks in the ruined Nineveh (v.14). 'Visit' (paqad) is the verb of judgment in 1:8, 9 and 12, now used for mercy, and 'turn away their captivity' is echoed in Ezek 39:25 and Zeph 3:20.

Verse 8

the reproach of Moab — Moab and Ammon were the sons of Lot's daughters (Gen 19:37–38). 'Revilings' (giddupheh) and 'reproach' (cherpah) are words of mockery. Ps 83:4 records the cry of the nations, 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation', and Ps 83:7 names Ammon among them. 'My people' is the LORD's own name for those they mocked.

Verse 9

as Sodom… as Gomorrah — 'As I live' is the LORD's own oath (cf. Num 14:21). The land becomes 'brimstone, and salt, and burning' (Deut 29:23), which is the 'saltpits' of this verse. 'Nettles' (charul) are the weeds of waste ground. The residue of Judah 'shall spoil them', as Isa 11:14 says, 'they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them'.

Verse 10

for their pride — Ga'on, the pride of Moab named in Isa 16:6 and Jer 48:29. 'Reproached' and 'magnified themselves' are the two verbs of v.8, and 'my people' there is 'the people of the LORD of hosts' here. Jer 48:26 gives the same charge, that Moab 'magnified himself against the LORD'. The LORD's word to Abraham stands behind it: 'curse him that curseth thee' (Gen 12:3).

Verse 11

he will famish all the gods of the earth — Razah, to make lean, is found elsewhere only in Isa 17:4, 'the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean'. 'Every one from his place' is the worship of Mal 1:11, 'in every place incense shall be offered unto my name', and 'the isles of the heathen' are the lands of Gen 10:5. Zech 2:11 says 'many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day'.

Verse 12

Ye Ethiopians — Kushim, the people of Cush, a son of Ham (Gen 10:6). The 'sword' is the LORD's, 'the sword of the LORD' of Isa 34:6, and Ezek 30:4 and 30:9 join Ethiopia with Egypt in the same stroke. Zephaniah's father is called Kushi (1:1), the same name. West (Philistia), east (Moab and Ammon), south (Ethiopia) and north (Assyria, v.13) are all named.

Verse 13

he will stretch out his hand against the north — The hand stretched out is the gesture of 1:4, now turned on Assyria. 'Destroy' is the abad of v.5. Nahum 1:1 is 'The burden of Nineveh', and Nah 3:7 has the same cry, 'Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her?' Nineveh had once been spared at Jonah's word (Jon 3:10), yet here is made 'dry like a wilderness'.

Verse 14

the cormorant and the bittern — Isaiah gives the same birds to ruined Edom, 'the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it' (Isa 34:11). 'Flocks shall lie down' uses the verb of v.7. 'Lintels' is the word of Amos 9:1, 'Smite the lintel of the door', and 'cedar work' (arzah) occurs only here: the fine cedar panelling is laid bare.

Verse 15

I am, and there is none beside me — These are the LORD's own words, 'I am the LORD, and there is none else' (Isa 45:5), taken by the city. Babylon says the same in Isa 47:8, 'I am, and none else beside me', also 'dwellest carelessly'. 'Hiss, and wag his hand' is what passers-by do at a ruin, as at Jerusalem in Lam 2:15, 'they hiss and wag their head'.