Zephaniah 2:12

12 You Cushites will also be slain by My sword.

Zephaniah 2:12 Meaning and Commentary

Zephaniah 2:12

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 ( 2 Chronicles 14:9 ) ( 21:16 ) : ye [shall be] slain by my sword;
or, "the slain of my sword are they" F9; R. Japhet thinks here is a defect of the note of similitude "as", which should be supplied thus, "ye" are, or shall be, "the slain of my sword", as they; as the Moabites and Ammonites; that is, these Ethiopians should be slain as well as they by the sword of Nebuchadnezzar; which is called the sword of God, because he was an instrument in the hand of God for punishing the nations of the earth. This was fulfilled very probably when Egypt was subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, with whom Ethiopia was confederate, as well as near unto it, ( Jeremiah 46:1 Jeremiah 46:2 ) . The destruction of these by the Assyrians is predicted, ( Isaiah 20:4 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F8 (Myvwk Mta Mg) "etiam ad vos Aethiopes quod attinet", Piscator.
F9 (hmh ybrx yllx) "interfecti gladio meo ipsi", Montanus.

Zephaniah 2:12 In-Context

10 This is what they get for their pride, because they have taunted and acted arrogantly against the people of the Lord of Hosts.
11 The Lord will be terrifying to them when He starves all the gods of the earth. Then all the distant coastlands of the nations will bow in worship to Him, each in its own place.
12 You Cushites will also be slain by My sword.
13 He will also stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolate ruin, dry as the desert.
14 Herds will lie down in the middle of it, every kind of wild animal. Both the desert owl and the screech owl will roost in the capitals of its pillars. [Their] calls will sound from the window, but devastation will be on the threshold, for He will expose the cedar work.
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