Therefore wait ye for me, saith Jehovah, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to assemble the nations, that I may gather the kingdoms together, to pour upon them mine indignation, -- all my fierce anger for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
The eighth verse is the hinge of Zephaniah 3. The chapter has just laid out Jerusalem's corruption in full. God does not tell the faithful to fix it. He tells them to wait, while He announces a plan to gather every nation for one final judgment.
The word "therefore" points back to the verse before. God rose early to warn. The people rose early to sin. One writer traces the link:
As Jehovah rose early to send them messages and warnings, they rose early to indulge in their wickedness. So the sentence follows.
God speaks here to the faithful few inside a guilty nation. Nothing was left for them to do but wait:
Jehovah had shown them such loving-kindness. He had been so near to them. But they would not listen. So Israel — unnamed — sinks to the level of the nations, who are the objects of God's just judgment. The remnant is called (v. 8) to wait for Jehovah alone, who is about to carry out this judgment. Nothing touched the hardened hearts of the people, so the remnant must await the moment when Jehovah rises up to the prey. Until that moment nothing could be done. Israel would not listen. Judgment did not belong to the remnant. And this judgment alone could put an end to their distress.
That waiting has stretched far beyond Zephaniah's lifetime:
They are as a nation to wait for Him, till the day comes in which He arises to execute the judgment of the nations. It has been a long waiting. Centuries have come and gone. His earthly people have wandered among the nations of the world. There they have been a byword and a curse, yet witnesses for Him too. Still they are waiting for "that day," the day which closes the times of the Gentiles.
What sounds terrifying to the nations is the very thing that rescues the faithful:
So the remnant is encouraged to wait for this time of judgment from the Lord, when He would rise up to the prey. This alone would set them free. This alone would teach the nations to call on the Lord and serve Him with one consent.
God calls the gathering of the nations His own decision. One writer reads Jerusalem's state in the prophet's day as a picture of a far later scene, and finds here a key to prophecy:
The prophet views the present state of Jerusalem as prophetic of its condition immediately before the appearing of the Lord. This is a very important declaration, as it gives the key to unlock the Old Testament prophecies. It teaches plainly that God will carry out His purposes for Israel, despite their humiliating and complete failure to meet their responsibility. It also teaches that judgment will open the period of blessing for this world under Messiah's reign. Many think blessing on the earth will simply grow and grow, until the knowledge of the Lord covers it as the waters cover the sea. This verse sets that idea completely aside.
One writer states plainly how Israel and the nations will be reached in that day:
The gospel will not reach Israel and the nations. Neither will any other testimony of God's patience and grace. "The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment" (Ps. 9:16). "When your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness" (Isa. 26:9).
The fire of God's jealousy is not the end of the story but the doorway into a settled era of good on this earth:
The day of judgment on the living opens the predicted era of earth's blessedness. An earlier prophet calls it "the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God." How strange that good men overlook what God's word makes so plain! Only the blinding power of tradition explains it. Scripture reveals an age to come. It is distinct from the present age, and it comes before the judgment of the great white throne (Rev. 20). In that age God's mercy will bless the nations far and wide.
- Therefore — God rose early to warn; the people rose early to sin. So the call comes: wait.
- Wait — judgment was never the task of the faithful few. Only God's own action could end their distress.
- Long — the waiting has run through centuries of scattering, still fixed on "that day" that closes the times of the Gentiles.
- Gathered — God Himself will assemble the nations. Messiah's reign of blessing comes through judgment, not through slow improvement.
- Then — the fire of His jealousy clears the ground for an age in which mercy reaches the nations far and wide.
For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve him with one consent.
Zephaniah 3:8 ends with the whole earth burned up by the fire of God's jealousy. Verse 9 opens with "For at that time" and turns from wrath to blessing: God gives the peoples a pure speech, and nations that once served idols call on His name together.
The writers quoted below use an older translation. It reads "a pure language" and "to serve him with one consent."
This blessing is not the present age slowly improving. One writer points to the word that fixes the order:
Note this scripture well. It says, "THEN will I turn to the people a pure language." When? When will this general turning or conversion happen? Clearly when this great gathering and judgment of the nations has taken place. THEN the millennium will begin, and not until then.
One writer points to the Hebrew word behind "peoples":
I will only point out that "people" in the original is plural: Ammim, not Goyim, which means Gentiles. I think it is the word used in the original for all nations that are not seen as shut out from the covenant.
Some read the verse as a picture of the gospel spreading through the world. One writer disagrees:
This does not mean the people of Israel. It means the peoples among the nations who are in relationship with Jehovah. But it does not follow that the spread of Christianity, and any check it has given to idolatry around the world, is what is predicted here. Scripture reveals an age to come. It is distinct from the present age, and it comes before the judgment of the great white throne (Revelation 20). In that age God's mercy will bless the nations far and wide. This, and not Christianity properly so called, is what the verse sets out.
One writer clears away two wrong readings before giving the plain sense:
Some have used this verse to support an imagined restoration of the gift of tongues. Luther paraphrased it this way: "Then I will cause the nations to be preached to in another way, with friendly lips, so that they may call on the name of the Lord." But the text does not support that reading. It means that the nations which escaped the judgment-wrath of the day of the Lord will be converted. Because they are converted, they will call upon the Lord with pure lips. All idolatry will cease, and all will serve the Lord as one man.
One writer sees the scattering of languages at Babel undone here:
We are told that the nations of that kingdom — "the world to come" — will worship the Lord the God of Israel with one life or language. The confusion of Babel will be at an end. Pentecost gave a sample of it.
One writer applies the verse to Christians today, and asks what could produce such unity:
A moment is coming when God's power will so take hold in the world that, under the mastery of that power, His earthly people will serve Him with one consent — or "one shoulder," as the margin reads. Can you tell me anything or anybody that could weld together every brother and sister in this room so that we all should serve with one consent? We have different measures, different appreciations and perhaps different desires. The only thing that can make this company, or any other company, serve with one shoulder is the power of God. And in this present age the power of God is in the Holy Spirit. As room is made for the power of the Holy Spirit, He binds the saints together in service with one consent — and in no other way.
Commentators differ. One writer links the "pure language" to the revival of Hebrew among returning Jews:
The Jews returned in such large numbers, from all parts of the world, speaking some seventy languages. So Israel had to have one official language shared by all. The revival of the pure Hebrew language was the best and happiest solution to the difficulty… Is this not a deeply interesting fulfilment of a prophecy?
Other writers read "the peoples" as the Gentile nations, not Israel. They place the fulfilment after the day of the Lord.
- Then — the promise has a date. Blessing follows the fire of God's jealousy, not the slow improvement of the present world.
- Peoples — the Hebrew word is plural. The promise reaches the nations, not Israel alone: all who are not shut out from the covenant.
- Pure — the change is a converted lip. Idolatry ends and the nations call on the name of the Lord.
- One — God reverses Babel. What judgment scattered, His power welds into one shoulder, one service.
- Differ — some writers see Hebrew's revival as a first instalment. Others hold that the whole promise waits for the age to come.
From beyond the rivers of Cush my suppliants, the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine oblation.
This verse comes straight after a scene of judgment: God has said He will gather the nations and pour out His anger. Only then does He speak of worshippers travelling in from far away — so where is that distant land, and who are these suppliants He calls His own?
The verse names a starting point: beyond the rivers of Cush. One writer argues this points past Egypt and past Assyria, not to either of them:
The point is not to draw attention to the country beside the Nile, nor even to add to it the land beside the Euphrates. The call is to a land beyond both. Egypt and Assyria had been the chief of those powers, for there was an Asiatic Cush as well as an African one. The land in question lay beyond these well-known countries — not near them, but perhaps ever so far off. It means a country far away.
Egypt and Assyria marked the edge of Israel's world. These worshippers come from beyond it.
The ESV reads "my worshipers" where older translations read "my suppliants." The word behind it comes from a Hebrew verb for prayer, and its force is asking and being heard:
The same word is translated "suppliant" in Zephaniah 3:10. Its root verb, athar, is the common word for "entreat, pray." Wilson defines athar as "to pray as a suppliant, to plead with God with power, in abundance, or with success." In its Niphal form it is generally used of pleading that prevails with God.
Commentators differ on how the return happens. One says the scattered people bring the offering themselves, and links their coming to the end of their disgrace:
These suppliant worshippers are the Jews who return from beyond the rivers of Cush — the Nile and the Euphrates, which normally ringed them round. In that day God will take away their shame for the past. This does not mean they will not mourn deeply and repent truly; it means the reproach will be removed from them. Their empty self-exaltation will disappear, and they will be the meek of the earth.
Another says they are the offering, and converted Gentiles carry them home:
While the peoples in verse 9 are the Gentiles, the suppliants in verse 10 are Jews brought back from the dispersion. The converted Gentiles bring them back as an offering to the Lord (Isaiah 66:20). When that happens, the restored nation will have no need to be ashamed of all it has done. The Lord in infinite grace will have cleansed them from their iniquity. Now they are no longer proud and haughty, but a remnant humbled, trusting in the Lord.
Verse 9 fixes the timing. Judgment on the gathered nations comes first; the worship comes after:
This is so plain that it needs no comment. It states clearly and beyond doubt that the Lord will turn to the people a pure language, to serve Him with one consent, only after the fire of God's jealousy has devoured the whole earth, and after He has assembled the kingdoms for that very purpose. I will only add that "people" here is plural in the original — Ammim, not Goyim, which means Gentiles. I think it is the word used for all the nations that are not viewed as shut out from the covenant.
So this is not a picture of the present spread of the gospel. One writer gives the reason plainly:
The reference is not to gospel times but to Messianic times, after the judgments just spoken of have been carried out. So it is not right to bring in here the spread of Christianity, which has not overthrown idolatry: inside the Roman Empire it put idolatry down, but afterwards it fell away into idolatry far and wide. In the Christian world there is nothing like the "one shoulder" for the service of the Lord.
God says what kind of people He will leave in the land. Their lowliness is what fits them to rule:
"I will also leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people." There must be moral integrity as well as true lowliness before God can entrust them with the throne. They are destined to have the first dominion. Before that they will know a humbling — not by circumstances only, but by grace working in their spirit — and it will fit them for their future greatness.
- Judgment first. Worshippers gather only after God has gathered the nations for judgment. The order cannot be moved.
- Distance next. "Beyond the rivers of Cush" means past both the Nile and the Euphrates. They come from beyond Egypt and Assyria, from a country far away.
- Prayer that prevails. The word "suppliants" means people who plead with God and are heard.
- An offering carried home. Commentators differ. Some say the dispersed bring the offering; others say they are the offering, carried home by converted nations.
- Lowly, then great. The returning remnant loses its pride and its reproach. Afflicted and poor first, given dominion afterwards.
In that day thou shalt not be ashamed for all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that exult in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.
Zephaniah points to a day still ahead. On that day Jerusalem's shame will be gone, and so will the proud who boasted in God's holy mountain. Two questions run through the verse: when is that day, and why must the proud go before blessing comes?
Kelly ties this promise to a coming age, not to the present one.
Along with God's judgment of the nations there will be a new heart for Israel, and on Jerusalem the glory will be a defence. Then the tide of divine mercy returns, when the promises are fulfilled in full and established forever. It is the fruit of grace, without doubt; but it shows a lack of understanding to see in this a picture of the gospel state. We must leave room for the varied dealings of God according to His word. It is the new age, not the present evil age.
The verse opens with "on that day." Grant traces what leads up to it, and Jerusalem is not spared.
The day of the Lord is upon all the earth, a day of wrath because of man's sin; and in the middle of the judgment of the nations, can Jerusalem possibly escape? No! And yet divine love will have its way too: "All the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy;" but then I will turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent.
Kelly weighs what this promise does and does not take away.
In that day shame for the past will be taken from the Jews: not, of course, that they shall not deeply mourn and truly repent, but the reproach shall be removed from them. Their empty self-exaltation shall disappear, and they shall be the meek of the earth.
Darby adds what happens to the record, and to the people left in the city:
Jerusalem would no longer remember her shame. God would blot out her transgressions completely. He would take the proud away from among her. A humble and despised people would live in her, and Jehovah alone would be their refuge.
The pride named here is a boast built on God's own mountain. One writer names the type of person God removes, and describes who takes their place.
Then we have God's separating judgment and the blessed effect in the souls of those who bow under His mighty hand: "I will take away out of the midst of you those who rejoice in your pride, and you shall be no more haughty [as, for example, the Pharisees were] because of My holy mountain." And now notice that what is least and most despised among men is where God finds His pleasure. It is a "poor and afflicted people" who shall be left in the midst of Jerusalem — a people poor in spirit and contrite before God because of the many sorrows through which they have passed.
Kelly reads the humbling as preparation for a throne.
There must be moral integrity as well as true lowliness before they can be entrusted with the throne. They are destined to have the first dominion. Before that they will know a humbling, not only in their circumstances but by grace in their spirit, and this will fit them for their future greatness.
The contrast between the haughty and the lowly is not confined to Israel's future. One commentator finds both groups in a New Testament church.
The rebuking and chastening of the Lord are an expression of His grace. This point comes to light in Scripture from the early days of Job. Yet it is easily overlooked if we catch the spirit of self-satisfaction that marked Laodicea. There was a minority who were like that "afflicted and poor people" of whom we read in Zephaniah 3:12. These are in contrast with "those who rejoice in your pride" and are "haughty," spoken of in the previous verse. The majority at Laodicea were of this haughty type, yet they did not come under the rebuking and chastening as the minority did.
- Midst, cleared. Judgment on the nations comes first. Only then does God clear the proud out of His city. Blessing comes through sifting, not through slow improvement.
- Midst, forgiven. God lifts the shame of the past and blots out the record. Real mourning and repentance remain.
- Midst, humbled. God judges pride in privilege — the boast in His own holy mountain, the error of the Pharisees.
- Midst, filled. What replaces the proud is a poor and contrite people whose only refuge is the Lord Himself.
- Midst, fitted. The humbling is preparation. A lowly spirit is what fits them for the dominion still to come.
And I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of Jehovah.
Zephaniah has just described a city stripped of everyone who boasted. The verse turns from what God takes away to what He leaves behind. Why does God answer national pride with a small, hurting people? And why is their only strength a name they lean on? Older translations read "an afflicted and poor people… they shall trust in the name of the LORD," and the writers below quote it that way.
God does not simply empty the city. He also chooses who stays, and He chooses by a rule that turns human judgment upside down.
Now notice this: what is least and most despised among men is where God finds His pleasure. God will leave a "poor and afflicted people" in the middle of Jerusalem. They are poor in spirit and humbled before God because of the many sorrows they have passed through. And it is these who will trust in the name of Jehovah, as their Rock of Ages.
This lowliness is not the end of their story. One writer links it to the rule these people will one day hold, and warns against reading the verse as a picture of today.
"I will also leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people." They need moral integrity as well as true lowliness before God can entrust them with the throne. They are destined to have the first dominion. Before that they will know a humbling, not by circumstances only but by grace in spirit. This will fit them for their future greatness.
The same writer is firm about the timing. This change is the fruit of grace, he says, but it does not picture the gospel age we live in now. It belongs to the new age still to come.
Their trust stands against the habits these people had become known for. One writer roots those habits in centuries of being hunted, and points to the change that ends them.
And the afflicted and poor people "shall trust in the name of Jehovah. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies." These are the very faults they became so notorious for during their sorrowful and often persecuted stay among the nations… Where people do not know grace in Christ, persecution breeds such deceit in speech, and wrongdoing in many other ways. But the change is at hand, and it is announced here… Every old outward cause for fear will go. And even before that, the grace of God will have produced a moral change within them.
Jesus opens the Sermon on the Mount with the same description. One writer reads those opening blessings as a picture of this future company.
We must not forget that there is also a direct application to the believing remnant of Israel. They will be waiting in the middle of great tribulations, persecutions and sufferings for the kingdom to come. When the kingdom at last comes, at the return of the King, the Son of Man, they will enter in. Let us look at the first four beatitudes from this standpoint. This people will be poor in spirit.
Two writers apply the verse beyond its own setting. One finds the same two types — the proud and the afflicted — in Laodicea, a church addressed in Revelation.
There was a minority who were like that "afflicted and poor people" of whom we read in Zephaniah 3:12. These are in contrast with "those who rejoice in your pride" and are "haughty," spoken of in the previous verse. The majority at Laodicea were of this haughty type. Yet the Lord's rebukes and chastenings did not fall on them, as they did on the minority.
Another turns it into a rule for how believers should carry themselves while they wait.
For us it is what God says to Israel — "I will leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord." It is true that we have joys and a source of service they cannot have then. But as a remnant in the middle of a ruined age, which is one side of our position, this is the spirit in which we have to walk.
- Pride removed. God takes away those who rejoice in their pride. Whoever is left in the city is there by His choice, not by chance.
- Poverty given. The affliction is not an accident. It is a humbling by grace in spirit, and it is where God finds His pleasure.
- Trust placed. They lean on the name of the Lord as their Rock of Ages. It is the one strength the proud never thought they needed.
- Truth produced. Centuries of persecution bred lying and deceit. Grace ends them by changing the heart, not just the circumstances.
- Throne inherited. These same poor people receive the first dominion. Commentators differ on how far the verse applies today. All agree God still honours this character.
The remnant of Israel shall not work unrighteousness, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth but *they* shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
These words close a book of judgment. God has sifted a nation and removed the proud. He then describes the small group left by how they speak and how safely they live. So who are they, and what turns people known for deceit into people with no lie in their mouth?
The verse names a people who are left over. One writer sets this at a coming judgment, and says who is removed and who stays.
God will fulfil Zephaniah 3:11-13. Judgment will take the transgressors away. The afflicted and poor people who trust in the name of the Lord will be left to enjoy the blessings of the coming kingdom. These are "the remnant of Israel."
The verse names two sins: wrongdoing and lying. One writer explains where such deceit comes from, and why only grace ends it.
"Those who are left in Israel... shall do no injustice and speak no lies." These are the very faults they have been so notorious for during their sad and often persecuted stay among the Gentiles. Deceit has especially marked the Jew in exile. It tends to be the character of a downtrodden people. People who have things their own way can afford an outward, natural honesty. But this people were hunted and destroyed for ages, so no one should wonder at it. Where people do not know grace in Christ, persecution breeds this deceit in speech, and wrongdoing in many other ways. But the change is at hand… There will be the removal of all the old occasion for outward fear; and even before this, the grace of God will have worked a moral change inside them. Outward things can never really form the heart.
The verse says what this people will not do. One writer points to what God does first, before any of it is true of them.
The restored nation will not need to be ashamed of anything they have done. The Lord in His infinite grace will have cleansed them from their iniquity. They are no longer proud and haughty, but a humbled remnant, trusting in the Lord… They will then be a righteous nation, do no iniquity, nor speak lies… But when that day comes the deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth. They will feed and lie down and none shall make them afraid. They have become once more the sheep of His pastures, gathered by the Good Shepherd.
Both writers trace this change to God, not to easier conditions. Kelly has it starting before their circumstances improve. Gaebelein ties it to God cleansing the nation.
Why single out the mouth? One writer shows how seriously Scripture treats lying, right to its last page.
It is striking and significant how Scripture constantly condemns lying. The last two chapters of the Bible speak with great seriousness about those who "make a lie." The last on the list of those cast out to the second death are "all liars." Satan is the father of lies. Those marked by lying in life and speech may read their doom here, unless they come to the One who can save and sanctify them. The hypocrites at this time make a "refuge of lies" (Isa. 28:15-17); but "those who are left in Israel... shall do no injustice and speak no lies" (Zeph. 3:12-13). Neither pride, nor deceit, nor lying will mark these servants. They take hold of the glorious name of the Lord and rejoice in Him with true confidence, for their righteousness is in Him.
Grazing and lying down is shepherd language, and the writers hear the twenty-third Psalm in it. The security is not self-made; it comes from the One caring for them.
They are restored, and under the care of the Shepherd of Israel. He makes them lie down in green pastures and leads them beside the still waters. So the end is reached in the fulfilment of all their hopes and blessing… Their judgments have been taken away for ever. The enemy has been cast out. The Lord once more dwells among His people, in a far more glorious way, and they will see evil no more.
- Left — judgment removes the proud and the transgressors. What remains is the afflicted and poor who trust in the Lord's name: the remnant of Israel.
- Cleansed — God first takes away their iniquity and their pride. The clean record follows the cleansing.
- Changed — deceit marked a hunted, downtrodden people. Only God's grace working inside them ends it, because outward things never form the heart.
- Truthful — Scripture keeps testing people by their speech. Hypocrites shelter in lies; on the last page of the Bible, liars are cast out.
- Unafraid — they feed and lie down as the sheep of the Good Shepherd. The enemy is gone, and every old cause of fear with him.