Zephaniah 3:3-13

3 The[a] princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are wolves of the night, which leave nothing for[b] the morning.
4 Her prophets are reckless- treacherous men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to instruction.[c]
5 The righteous Lord is in her;[d] He does no wrong. He applies His justice morning by morning; He does not fail at dawn, yet the one who does wrong knows no shame.
6 I have cut off nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have laid waste their streets, with no one to pass through. Their cities lie devastated, without a person, without an inhabitant.
7 I thought: You will certainly fear Me and accept correction. Then her dwelling place[e] would not be cut off [based on] all that I had allocated to her. However, they became more corrupt in all their actions.
8 Therefore, wait for Me- the Lord's declaration- until the day I rise up for plunder.[f] For My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, in order to pour out My indignation on them, all My burning anger; for the whole earth will be consumed by the fire of My jealousy.

Final Restoration Promised

9 For I will then restore pure speech to the peoples so that all of them may call on the name of Yahweh and serve Him with a single purpose.[g]
10 From beyond the rivers of Cush[h] My supplicants, My dispersed people, will bring an offering to Me.
11 On that day you[i] will not be put to shame because of everything you have done in rebelling against Me. For then I will remove your boastful braggarts from among you, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain.
12 I will leave a meek and humble people among you, and they will trust in the name of Yahweh.
13 The remnant of Israel will no longer do wrong or tell lies; a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths. But they will pasture and lie down, with nothing to make [them] afraid.

Zephaniah 3:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ZEPHANIAH 3

In this chapter the character of the city of Jerusalem, and its inhabitants in general, is drawn, as it would be, and as it was, in the times of Christ and his apostles, Zep 3:1,2 and of the principal persons of it in particular, its princes, judges, prophets, and priests, Zep 3:3,4. The hardness, impenitence, and shamelessness of this people, are exposed and aggravated by the just Lord being among them; who, by his example and doctrine, taught them otherwise; yet they were not amended or made ashamed, Zep 3:5 nor received instruction, nor took warning by the judgments of God on other nations, Zep 3:6,7 wherefore the followers of God are called upon to wait his time, who would gather many people together, and destroy the whole land of Judea, Zep 3:8 at which time he would send his Gospel among the Gentiles, who should thereby be brought to the true worship and service of God, Zep 3:9,10 though there should be a remnant among the Jews, according to the election of grace, that should be saved from that general calamity, Zep 3:11-13 and the spiritual Israel are encouraged with promises of better times, when the Jews in general should be converted and gathered into the church of God, have the presence and protection of God with them, and deliverance from all their enemies, and be a praise among all people of the earth, Zep 3:14-20.

Footnotes 9

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