Zephaniah 2:8

8 "I have heard the insults of the country of Moab and the threats of the people of Ammon. They have insulted my people and have taken their land."

Zephaniah 2:8 Meaning and Commentary

Zephaniah 2:8

I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the
children of Ammon
Two people that descended from Lot, through incest with his daughters; and are therefore mentioned together, as being of the same cast and complexion, and bitter enemies to the people of the Jews; whom they reproached and reviled, for the sake of their religion, because they adhered to the word and worship of God: this they did when the Jews were most firmly attached to the service of the true God; and the Lord heard it, and took notice of it; and put it down in the book of his remembrance, to punish them for it in due time; even he who hears, and sees, and knows all things: whereby they have reproached my people;
whom he had chosen, and avouched to be his people; and who were called by his name, and called on his name, and worshipped him, and professed to be his people, and to serve and obey him; and as such, and because they were the people of God, they were reproached by them; and hence it was so resented by the Lord; and there being such a near relation between God and them, he looked upon the reproaches of them as reproaches of himself: and magnified [themselves] against their border;
either they spoke reproachfully of the land of Israel, and the borders of it, and especially of the inhabitants of the land, and particularly those that bordered upon them; or they invaded the borders of their land, and endeavoured to add it to theirs; or as the Jews were carried captive by the Chaldeans, as they passed by the borders of Moab and Ammon, they insulted them, and jeered them, and expressed great pleasure and joy in seeing them in such circumstances; see ( Ezekiel 25:3 Ezekiel 25:8 ) . Jarchi represents the case thus; when the children of Israel went into captivity to the land of the Chaldeans, as they passed by the way of Ammon and Moab, they wept, and sighed, and cried; and they distressed them, and said, what do you afflict yourselves for? why do ye weep? are not you going to the house of your father, beyond the river where your fathers dwelt of old? thus jeering them on account of Abraham's being of Ur of the Chaldees.

Zephaniah 2:8 In-Context

6 The land by the Mediterranean Sea, in which you live, will become pastures, fields for shepherds, and pens for sheep.

7 It will belong to the descendants of Judah who are left alive. There they will let their sheep eat grass. At night they will sleep in the houses of Ashkelon. and will make their life good again.

8 "I have heard the insults of the country of Moab and the threats of the people of Ammon. They have insulted my people and have taken their land."

9 So the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says, "As surely as I live, Moab will be destroyed like Sodom, and Ammon will be destroyed like Gomorrahn -- a heap of weeds, a pit of salt, and a ruin forever. Those of my people who are left alive will take whatever they want from them; those who are left from my nation will take their land."

10 This is what Moab and Ammon get for being proud, because they insulted and made fun of the people of the Lord All-Powerful.