Zephaniah 3:11

11 You'll no longer have to be ashamed of all those acts of rebellion. I'll have gotten rid of your arrogant leaders. No more pious strutting on my holy hill!

Zephaniah 3:11 Meaning and Commentary

Zephaniah 3:11

In that day shall thou not be ashamed for all thy doings,
wherein thou hast transgressed against me
Because these shall not be continued in, but repented of, and forsaken; and, besides, shall be forgiven, blotted out, covered, and remembered no more; so that they shall not be charged with them, condemned for them, or be confounded before God, angels, and men, on account of them; not but that shame always arises from a true sense of sin; and the more, as it is beheld in the glass of pardoning love, which is a branch of true evangelical repentance, at least a fruit and evidence of it, ( Ezekiel 16:63 ) but then such are not ashamed to appear before God; but can with a holy confidence stand in his sight, their sins being pardoned, and their persons justified. This respects the Christian church or churches in Judea, the few that believed in Christ, called in a following verse the remnant of Israel ( Zephaniah 3:13 ) , at the time when the generality of the people of the Jews rejected the Messiah, and their city and temple were destroyed, and the Lord turned the pure language of the Gospel to the Gentiles: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that
rejoice in thy pride;
the Scribes and Pharisees, and those that adhered to them of the Jewish nation, who rejoiced in those things which that people generally prided themselves in and boasted of; their descent from Abraham; their observance of the rites and ceremonies of the law, and the traditions of their elders, and their external legal righteousness; and they rejoiced in their boastings of these things, which rejoicing was evil; and they, in the pride of their hearts, despised Christ and his righteousness, his Gospel, ordinances, and people, which were the things in which they transgressed against the Lord, and for which they were taken away by the sword, famine, and pestilence, at the destruction of Jerusalem: this is further explained by the next clause: and thou shall no more be haughty because of mine holy mountain:
the temple; or, "in" F13 it; since it should now be destroyed: the Jews gloried in the temple, and behaved proudly and haughtily on the account of it; reckoned themselves secure, because of that; and trusted and gloried in the sacrifices there offered up, and the services there performed; see ( Jeremiah 7:4 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (yvdq rhb) "in monte sancto meo", V. L. Vatablus, Cocceius; "in monte sanctitatis meae", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Calvin, Burkius.

Zephaniah 3:11 In-Context

9 "In the end I will turn things around for the people. I'll give them a language undistorted, unpolluted, Words to address God in worship and, united, to serve me with their shoulders to the wheel.
10 They'll come from beyond the Ethiopian rivers, they'll come praying - All my scattered, exiled people will come home with offerings for worship.
11 You'll no longer have to be ashamed of all those acts of rebellion. I'll have gotten rid of your arrogant leaders. No more pious strutting on my holy hill!
12 I'll leave a core of people among you who are poor in spirit - What's left of Israel that's really Israel. They'll make their home in God.
13 This core holy people will not do wrong. They won't lie, won't use words to flatter or seduce. Content with who they are and where they are, unanxious, they'll live at peace."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.