Tzefanyah 2:12

12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by My cherev.

Tzefanyah 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.

Tzefanyah 2:12 In-Context

10 This shall they have in return for their ga’on (pride), because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the Am Hashem Tzva’os.
11 Hashem will be terrible unto them; for He will reduce to nothing all the elohei ha’aretz (g-ds of the land); and men shall worship Hashem, everyone from his place, even all the coasts and islands of the Goyim.
12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by My cherev.
13 And Hashem will stretch out His hand against the tzafon (north), and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like a midbar.
14 And herds shall lie down in the midst of it, all the beasts of the Goyim; both the desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns; their voice shall hoot in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; the beams of cedar will be exposed.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.