Chapter Two

Verses 1–3. An exhortation from the prophet to the people of Judah in general and to their best representatives in particular—to turn to the Lord before the day of His wrath and judgment arrives. God’s judgment will extend not only to Judea but to the whole world: 4–7. to the Philistines, 8–11. to the Moabites and Ammonites, 12. to the Ethiopians, and finally, 13–15. to the Assyrians, whose capital Nineveh will be completely devastated.

Zephaniah 2:1. Gather together and examine yourselves carefully, shameless people, Zephaniah 2:2. before the decree comes—the day will pass away like chaff—before the burning wrath of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s fury arrives for you. “He portrayed the harshness of war and the greatness of the disaster that will come, and then mercifully turns his speech to awaken their repentance when it was possible to prevail over them, since they must have been brought to fear. When the soul hardens and is governed by a strong inclination toward the shameful and disgraceful, then we do not easily come even to desire to repent, but often fear compels us to do so against our will. Thus he calls them to communion with Himself” (St. Cyril of Alexandria, p. 34). Whereas the destruction of foreign peoples, whose prophecy is contained further below with Zeph 2:4, will be irreversible and final, the Judean people, at least its better part, can still be saved. The path to salvation lies in a change of the people’s spiritual disposition, in repentance and reformation, which must begin with the gathering of all the people’s spiritual forces, self-examination of each and all. To this the prophet calls his contemporaries in verse 1, pointing out, as a motive for this, in verse 2 the inevitability of the coming of the day of God’s judgment in all its terror if otherwise. In light of the deep indifference of contemporary society, already known from Zeph 1:12, toward the higher spiritual demands and matters of religion, and also its complete carelessness and irresistible pursuit of fleeting goods and pleasures of life, the prophet calls his people goy lo-nicsaph, LXX: τὸ ἔθνος τὸ ἀπαίδευτον, Vulgate: gens non amabilis (a people not worthy of love), Slavonic: “a people unpunished,” and addresses it with the call hitkoshesu vakoshu, LXX: συναχθῆτε καὶ συνδεθῆτε and Vulgate: convenite, congregamini, Slavonic: “gather together and bind yourselves,” that is, he urges all contemporary Judeans to concentrate all their thoughts and feelings on one subject—to avert destruction through repentance: “come to your senses and humble yourselves, helpless people!” Otherwise destruction, and complete destruction at that—like disappearing chaff (Heb. kemos; cf. Isa 24:5), and terrible as the flame of the wrath of Yahweh (Heb. haron Adonai).

Zephaniah 2:3. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth who fulfill His laws; seek righteousness, seek meekness; perhaps you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s wrath. After exhortations to the whole people (vv. 1–2), the prophet, seeing no response from the masses to his preaching, abandons the people to their own fate and now addresses a small, chosen group of pious, believing members of the people, calling them anve-haaretz, ταπεινοὶ γῆς, mansueti terrae, “the humble of the earth.” He persuades them: “seek the Lord,” Heb. bakkeshu et Elohim, ζητήσατε τὸν Κύριον, quaerite Dominum, that is, as blessed Theodoret explains: “turn your attention to the nothingness of your nature, to your forefather—dust—and seek the Creator, who has blessed you with so many good things. Then the prophet teaches in what way one can seek God: do justice, seek righteousness, (seek meekness), and he says: Hold fast to uprightness and fairness, love a humble and moderate life” (p. 47). The chief and basic virtue which, according to the prophet, most brings a person near to God and unites him with Him, and which therefore the prophet commands to “the humble of the earth,” is humility, Heb. anava. The word anava—of the same root as anav, “humble,” and like the latter expresses not physical oppression or degradation of a person (Ps 9:13; Prov 14:21), but his moral qualities: patience, humility, meekness (Num 12:3; Prov 3:34), and moreover frequently means not merely a manifestation in a given case of a person’s submission to God’s will, but as a constant, dominant disposition of the whole spiritual life, in Greek denoted by the names: πραύτης, ταπεινοφροσύνη... It is in this sense, in the sense of piety, that the word anava is found in the Book of Proverbs (Prov 15:33), and the adjective anav—in the Book of Psalms (Ps 11:6). Some scholars (Schwally, etc.) unjustly asserted that the Hebrews and their prophets before the Exile did not consider humility a religious virtue, since the Hebrew people were then distinguished by opposite qualities and therefore saw other ideals of moral life, and because the word anav (Amos 2:7; Isa 11:4) found in a few prophetic places of unquestionable pre-Exile origin simply means “poor.” On this basis, these scholars attribute to the passage Zeph 2:3, where anav and anava appear as well-defined religious terms, a post-Exile origin. But here, first of all, the numerous passages from the Books of Psalms and Proverbs, where the words anav and anava have an unquestionably ethical character, are quite unjustly overlooked (the dating of these books to the post-Exile period is done quite arbitrarily). Further, there are also prophetic passages whose pre-Exile origin is not questioned even by critics, in which the concept of anav has an undeniable relation to the moral characterization of a person, for example, in Amos 2:6-7, where anav stands in parallel with tsaddiq—righteous—a concept undoubtedly relating to the characterization of a person’s inner moral state (cf. Isa 11:4), and to this also belongs the passage Mic 6:8, where among God-pleasing virtues is named that of “walking humbly before God” (cf. also Num 12:3 and others). Finally, the assertion that only the common Hebrews but not the prophets themselves held other ideals of moral life before the Exile, among which humility before God had no place, has very questionable value. Against this decisive testimony is given not only by individual instances of the biblical Hebrews’ display of profound humility before God—Jacob (Gen 32:10), David (2 Sam 7:18), even Ahab (1 Sam 21:29), and so forth, but chiefly—the great image of the Servant of Yahweh created by the pre-Exile prophets, whose service in its deepest essence is formed by unparalleled humility. One can further add that true religion is impossible without humility, and such the biblical religion undoubtedly was throughout all the centuries of its existence. Under the condition of righteousness and meekness the prophet offers his listeners some hope of escaping the common destruction.4 But this is only a partial and not unambiguous hope. Judgment is inevitable, and it will extend not only to Judea but to other peoples. But precisely because of the coming judgment of God over the wicked, the righteous should manifest the virtues required of them by the prophet: after God’s judgment over the wicked a new and better order of things will come, in which the correspondence required by the moral law between a person’s moral dignity and his external state will be restored. Hence the speeches against foreign peoples, beginning with verse 4, are connected with the previous exhortation to the Judeans by the causal conjunction ki, διότι, quia; blessed Theodoret expresses the immediate connection of the two sections of chapter II thus: “If you turn to the repentance mentioned above, you will gain salvation, and the cities of foreigners will suffer the predicted disasters” (p. 47).

Zephaniah 2:4. For Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon will be desolate, Ashdod will be driven out in the middle of the day and Ekron will be uprooted. Zephaniah 2:5. Woe to the inhabitants of the coastland, nation of the Cretans! The word of the Lord is against you, Canaanites, land of the Philistines! I will destroy you, and there will be no inhabitants left— Zephaniah 2:6. and the coastland will become pastureland, a field for shepherds and a pen for flocks. Zephaniah 2:7. And this coastland will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah, and they will pasture there, and in the houses of Ashkelon will rest in the evening, for the Lord their God will visit them and restore their captivity. The terrifying speech of the prophet first turns to the western neighbors of the Hebrews—the Philistines. The name of Philistine territory, Heb. Pleshet (in Greek rendering Παλαιστίνη; cf. Herod. Hist. II, 104; VII, 89), Ps 59:10; Isa 14:29 and others, in the Bible denotes the coastal region of present-day Syria from Jaffa to Gaza, which in biblical times bordered the tribes of Dan, Simeon, and Judah. The name appears in cuneiform writings in the forms Palastu, Pilistu. The root also found in the Ethiopian language expresses the concept of wandering, migration, which reminds us of the LXX rendering of the ethnic name Pelishtim by a common noun: ἀλλόφυλοι, foreigners. In the very name of the Philistines there seems to have been the thought of their migration to Palestine from some other country. And the Bible has preserved the tradition of their prehistoric emigration from some Caphtor (Amos 9:7; Deut 2:23; cf. Gen 10:14; 1 Chr 1:12) or island of Caphtor (Jer 47:4)—according to the predominant opinion in scholarship (Ewald, Knierin, Stade, and others) the island of Crete. Hence two other names for the Philistines—Caphtorim and Cretans (cf. Ezek 25:16; Zeph 2:5). The opinion about the Philistines’ origin from the island of Crete was widespread in antiquity, as evidenced, among other things, by the commentaries of St. Cyril of Alexandria and blessed Theodoret and Jerome. In favor of this opinion, scholars (Stade) not without reason cite Homer, Odyssey, XIX, 172–177. The history of the Philistines according to the Bible runs parallel to the history of the biblical Hebrews in nearly all of its scope; now they dominated the Hebrews (for example, in the period of the Judges, partly under Saul), now they submitted to them (under David, later under Hezekiah, etc.), and in general were connected with the Israelite-Judean history by numerous threads. In terms of political and administrative organization, the Philistine land was divided into five districts, subject to five rulers (seranim; cf. 1 Josh 13:3) and each having its own capital city: Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, or according to the LXX reading, Akkaron, and Gath, with Gaza predominating. Information about the geographical position of all these cities and their districts is given in the Commentary Bible, vol. II, pp. 330 and 326–329. The prophet Zephaniah does not mention the fate of Gath (as do other prophets who prophesied the desolation of the Philistine land, Amos 1:6-8; Jer 25:20; Zech 9:5-6): apparently, after its destruction by the Judean king Uzziah (2 Chr 26:6), it lost all significance and around 711 BCE was finally destroyed (cf. Onomast. 302). The prophet first names the southernmost and most significant of the Philistine cities—Gaza (see Onomast. 306). Gaza (in cuneiform Hazzatu, Hazzutu, Haziti, in the Tell Amarna letters Azzati)—according to Hebrew etymology from az—“strength.” To depict the future fate of the city the prophet uses a word consonant with the city’s name: azuva, “abandoned” (LXX: διηρπασμένη, Vulg.: destructa erit). According to blessed Jerome, “Gaza means my strength. Therefore, those who boast of physical strength or worldly power and together with the devil say, ‘I will overcome,’ will be destroyed and brought to nothing in the day of the Lord’s wrath” (p. 271). Ashkelon (Onomast. 162), (Assyr. Iskaluna, Askaluna, in Tell-Amarna letters Ackaluna), on the Mediterranean Sea; according to Josephus (Jewish War 3:2, 1) was an excellent fortress, long famous for the temple of the goddess Derketo-Melita, destroyed by the Scythians. Blessed Jerome (with doubtful philological foundation, however) observes: “Ashkelon, which means ‘weighed’ or ‘man-slaying fire’—when the day of the Lord comes, will feel the measure of its transgression and will be oppressed by the weight it produced. And since it burned with a desire for bloodshed, then... it will be turned into a desert and burned to ash by the fire of Gehenna” (p. 271). Ashdod (Onomast. 36) (Assyr. Asdudu)—the main center of the cult of Dagon, in whose temple the Ark of God was once placed (1 Sam 5:1). Uzziah destroyed its walls (2 Chr 26:6), but afterward it remained independent. Later it was repeatedly besieged by the armies of the Assyrians and Egyptians (Isa 20:1) until, according to Herodotus (II, 157), it was taken by Pharaoh Psammetichus after a 28-year siege. The prophet threatens Ashdod with the exile of its inhabitants batzagrim, in broad daylight, that is, at a time when everyone considers themselves most safe (cf. Jer 6:4). Ekron or Akkaron (Onomast. 51) (Assyr. Am Karruna) was the northernmost city among the Philistine pentapolis; in the period of the divided Hebrew kingdom it was the place of the cult of Baal-Zebub with a temple and oracle at it (2 Sam 1:1; See: Commentary Bible, vol. II, p. 495). As with Gaza, the prophet in relation to the fate of Ekron admits an image expressed in a form consonant with the city’s name: Ekron te-iker, “Ekron will be uprooted,” LXX: ἐκριζωθήσεται, Vulg.: eradicabitur, Slavonic: “Akkaron will be uprooted” (cf. Zech 9:5). Further, in verses 5–7, the prophet speaks of the destruction not only of individual Philistine cities but of the entire Philistine land as a whole. In verse 5 the names “inhabitants of the coastland,” “Cretan people” on the one hand and then “Canaan” and “land of the Philistines” are undoubtedly parallel and synonymous with each other, meaning the Philistine land and its inhabitants. Therefore, one cannot accept a common noun meaning for Cretim (in the expression: goy Cretim), reading it as Cretim and rendering it with the Vulgate: (gens) perditorum (such a reading was accepted, according to the testimony of blessed Jerome, by the ancient Greek translators: Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and Quinta). Rather, one should accept the reading consistent with the Hebrew Masoretic, Greek LXX, and Syriac texts in the sense of a proper name for the inhabitants of the Philistine land.—A major, heretofore unresolved textual difficulty is presented in verse 6 by the Hebrew word kerot (usually understood as “cistern”), rendered by the LXX also as Κρήτη, Slavonic: “Crete,” without doubt contrary to the original and authentic meaning of the text; in the Vulgate this word is completely omitted in translation. All attempts by scholars to clarify this difficulty have been unsuccessful (see Fr. Schwally, Das Buch Ssephanja... Zeitschrift fur altestament-liche Wissenschaft, 1890, K. II, S. 185–186. Cf. Tyurnina, Cited work, pp. 100–104). The general sense of verses 5–7, however, is completely clear. The prophet in a distant vision sees a picture of the coming catastrophe on the Philistine land and the aspect the land will take after it. The coastal country, now serving as the arena of teeming life, filled with populated ports and crowded fortified cities, famous for wide maritime and land trade, by God’s command will be desolate, transformed into a barren steppe in which only shepherds with their flocks will dwell. Then, in verse 7, this empty land will become the possession of “the remnant of the house of Judah,” which “in the houses of Ashkelon will rest in the evening, when (mercifully) the Lord their God will look upon them and restore them from captivity.” According to blessed Theodoret, “this came to pass when the Judeans returned from captivity; for in the Books of the Maccabees we find that Jonathan and Simon, having taken control of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ptolemais, subordinated them to their authority. The exact and indisputable fulfillment of the prophecy can be seen after the ascension of our Savior and after the preaching of the holy apostles: for they, having departed from Judea, stayed in these cities toward evening, that is, before the end of evening, when God of all things looked upon the nations and freed them from bitter slavery and ‘captivity’ (p. 48).

Zephaniah 2:8. I have heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the sons of Ammon, how they taunted My people and boasted against their borders. Zephaniah 2:9. Therefore, as I live! says the Lord of hosts, God of Israel: Moab will be like Sodom, and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, a salt pit, a desolation forever; the remnant of My people will plunder them, and the survivors of My nation will inherit their land. From the Philistines, the western neighbors of the Judeans, the prophet turns to the eastern neighbors of the chosen people, the descendants of Lot—the Moabites and Ammonites. Though kindred to Israel, both of these peoples, throughout almost the entire biblical history, with the exception of isolated instances of peaceful and friendly relations (Ruth 1:1 and others; 1 Sam 22:1-3), continuously warred with the chosen people. The enmity of the Moabites toward Israel manifested itself already in the time of Moses, as is known from the story of Balaam (Num 22:1 and others). In the period of the Judges the yoke of the Moabites weighed on the Hebrews for eighteen years (Judg 3:12-14). With varying success the struggle between the two peoples continued throughout the entire period of the kings (2 Sam 8:2; 2 Sam 1:1, and following; III and others). The relations of the Ammonites to the Hebrews were almost the same, except that they apparently were characterized by even greater cruelty on both sides. (1 Sam 11:16-7; 2 Sam 12:31). The Ammonites warred with Israel especially under Jephthah (Judg 11:32-33) and David (2 Sam 8:12), and also many times after him. When Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judea, the Ammonites joined his armies and took part in the devastation of the land (2 Sam 24:2; Ezek 25:1). Their fierce enmity toward the Judeans did not cease even after the latter returned from captivity, manifesting itself in many instances (Nehem 5:2-7 and others). The prophet, verse 8, speaks of the reproach, Heb. herpa, of Moab and the insults, gidduph, of the sons of Ammon against God’s people. According to St. Cyril of Alexandria, “over the devastated Jerusalem and the afflicted Israelites the neighboring peoples mocked; they imagined that the captivity of Judea was the work of their own false gods, whereas the almighty Arm that had always helped them from on high, as it were, was overthrown and brought to nothing... Therefore, he says, I heard the ‘reproaches’ of the Moabites and ‘the insults of the sons of Ammon’; whether with a rod or a stone, one who reviles afflicted people is no different from one who opens his unbridled mouth against them, utters and speaks such words by which, without doubt, some are brought to grief and sorrow and by which the weight of misfortune becomes even heavier. Since, however, they were casting defamatory speech against the divine glory itself; therefore, he says, cast down under the punishment of the Sodomites, they will come to destruction, and, in their sufferings, though somewhat showing the suffering of Gomorrah, late and scarcely through what befell them will they recognize the power of the one calling” (pp. 360–351). From what was said above about the relations of the Moabites and Ammonites to Israel known from history, it is evident that the cause that prompted the divine judgment announced by the prophet may be considered the entire totality of the internal and active enmity of both peoples toward the chosen people of God and at the same time toward God Himself and His religion. This not only political, national but also religious imprint of the irreconcilable enmity of Moabites and Ammonites toward Israel determines the solemn tone of the prophet’s threatening speech against them in verses 9–10. A profound solemnity and sanctified tone to the prophet’s speech is above all imparted by the oath of Yahweh by Himself (cf. Heb 6:13): “As I live!” Heb. Hai Ani, a form of oath occurring in Scripture not often, precisely when it is necessary to assure people of the inevitable occurrence of events, improbable by human reckoning (cf. Num 14:21; Deut 32:40; Isa 49:18; Ezek 5:11 and others). The meaning of this oath—the assertion of the immutability of what is announced by pointing to the immutability of God’s will and the unchangeableness of His being. And this idea is the foundation and in the following divine name Yahweh (Exod 3:14 and others. See our article “Yahweh” in the “Theological Encyclopedia,” published under the editorship of Prof. N. K. Glubokovskii, vol. VI). The following divine name “Yahweh Tsevaot,” the Lord of hosts, at which in this place also stands the epithet Elohe Yisrael, God of Israel, means the God of Salvation, King of the theocratic kingdom established by Him among the chosen people (see G. Tyurnina, p. 120–123. See Prof. Fr. B. A. Glagolev, Old Testament biblical teaching on Angels, p. 238 and following). What is announced to the Moabites and Ammonites is—complete destruction of inhabitants and utter desolation of the land—like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah—an image of God’s judgment constantly used by the prophets when they threaten a country with terrible desolation (Isa 1:9; Amos 4:11; Hos 11:8; Jer 49:18), but in this case especially appropriate, since both peoples lived at the very shore of the Dead Sea and thus constantly had before them a visible monument of God’s dreadful punishment. From this same association by proximity it is evident how inappropriate is the rendering by the LXX (as also by St. Cyril of Alexandria and blessed Theodoret) of the Hebrew mimshak with the proper name Δαμασκός, Damascus (as if it read: Dammeshek). Slavonic: “and Damascus is left as hay in the threshing floor.” The introduction of the idea of Damascus into a speech about the Moabites and Ammonites cannot be explained by anything. Therefore, for the expressions of the Hebrew text mimshakh kharul and the following: miker-melah more appropriate meanings are the common noun meanings, which, however, are determined very differently by translations and commentators and thus can be established only with approximate precision. The first expression most likely can be rendered: “a place or region of thorn” (Russian Synodal: “a possession of nettles”), the second: “a salt pit” (Russian Synodal: “a salt ravine,” Vulg.: acervi salis). Both figurative expressions are further clarified in the prophet by the expression of direct, literal meaning: ushmama ad-olam, “and a desert forever.” To the prophet’s vision apparently appeared the desert region in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, already in biblical times striking observers with its barrenness; due to the abundance of salt in the soil only wild prickly plants could grow there. With such desolation the prophet threatens the land of the Moabites and Ammonites. But, the prophet says at the end of verse 9, the devastated land will someday become the possession of the remnant of the chosen people of God saved after captivity. “That the executors of these punishments will be none other than the very people who underwent afflictions and humiliation itself, this he shows by saying: and the rest of My people will plunder them; and those left of My nation will inherit them; for by those left of the people he means those saved from captivity, who conquered the nations and, taking the cities of the foreigners, turned them into desert” (St. Cyril of Alexandria, p. 361).

Zephaniah 2:10. This is their reward for their pride, because they taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts. In verse 10 the fundamental cause is indicated for the depiction in verse 9 of the destruction of the Moabites and Ammonites, namely their extraordinary arrogance, pride (Heb. gaon, Gr. ὕβρις, Lat. superbia), by virtue of which they mocked the people of the Lord of hosts. Other prophets also repeatedly condemned the haughty and contemptuous attitude of the Moabites toward the Hebrews (Isa 16:6; Jer 48:29-30; Ezek 25:3), and this attitude extended among them to the religion of Yahweh: “they, miserable as they were, dared to pronounce insolent words and belch forth blasphemous speech against the very ineffable Glory and, acting under the influence of strange and unbridled boldness, hardly stopped short of revolting against Him who is above all” (St. Cyril of Alexandria, p. 362). This idea that the mockery and reproaches of the Moabites and Ammonites concerned the very religious beliefs of the chosen people is directly expressed in the accepted Greek text of the LXX: ἐπί τὸν Κύριον, τόν παντοκράτορα (that is, with the omission of the word τὸν λαόν, corresponding to the Hebrew et-am—people. But in other Greek manuscripts, for example: 22, 36, 51, 62, 86, 114, 147, 228, 238, 240 in Holmes’ edition, the reading is consistent with the Masoretic Hebrew; and in Slavonic: “against the people of the Lord Almighty”).

Zephaniah 2:11. Terrifying to them will be the Lord, for He will destroy all the gods of the earth, and they will worship Him, each from his place, all the islands of the nations. Verse 11, in accordance with the main thought of the book of the prophet Zephaniah (see Zeph 1:2-3) about the universality of God’s judgment and its extension to all the nations of the earth, points out the inner meaning and final purpose of this judgment. This meaning and purpose consist in showing the pagan nations the nothingness of their gods and the futility of their beliefs, and then prompting them to recognition and acknowledgment of the divine almightiness of the one Yahweh and to true worship of Him. The first word of the verse “nora”—terrifying, Vulg.: horribilis, in the LXX is rendered differently: ἐπιφανήσεται, Slavonic: “will appear.” Apparently the LXX read in the Hebrew: nira, “will appear.” Which of these two readings is more correct is difficult to decide, since each has analogies (Hebrew—cf. Ps 65:5; Greek see Isa 60:2). Moreover, there is no significant difference in the meaning of the verse from these variants: in any case, what is spoken of here is a manifestation of Divine Justice, first and foremost in relation to the peoples mentioned in the preceding verses, but also in relation to other nations of the world. The whole essence, the whole meaning and the whole purpose of the manifestation of God’s judgment over the pagans are expressed in the following words: ki rasa et-kal-elohey-haaretz, “for He will destroy all the gods of the earth”; Vulg.: attentuabit omnes deos terrae. LXX: ἐξολοθρεύσει πάντας τούς θεούς τῶν ἐθνῶν τῆς γῆς, Slavonic: “will consume all the gods of the nations of the earth,” (The addition in the Greek-Slavonic text of the word “nations,” some think, was intended to prevent the thought that the prophet acknowledges the existence of other gods). To understand this punishment of the pagan gods, a parallel passage may serve Exod 12:12, speaking of Yahweh’s judgment over the gods of Egypt, cf. Isa 19:1-4; Ps 81:7. Each nation presented its own god or gods as protectors of only that nation, placing all its national strength in the gods. To destroy the gods of paganism means: to expose their utter powerlessness to help their worshippers, to show their utter nothingness. “Since they attributed to their own gods the glory of omnipotence, the Lord will be revealed to them, that is: will demonstrate His own power by destroying all their gods; for their sanctuaries were destroyed and fell by the hand of Israel, and the man-made idols of conquered nations turned out to be truly the work of human hands everywhere and among every people. So then, where is the power of the gods? Or how could those help others who are unable to help themselves?” (St. Cyril of Alexandria, p. 362–363). The consequence of the pagans’ realization of the nothingness of their gods will be the acknowledgment of the one true God Yahweh: “and they will worship Him, each from his place, all the islands of the nations.” The expression “all the islands of the nations,” kol—iyey-haggoyim (Isa 41:1), according to prophetic usage, designates all peoples, even the most distant from Israel, the entire pagan world in its totality. The worship of Yahweh, which is here, Zeph 2:11, attributed to the pagans, is not yet the complete conversion of the latter to Yahweh, of which it is spoken below in Zeph 3:9-10. Here the recognition and acknowledgment by the pagans of Yahweh’s almighty power is only the initial moment in the turning to the true God—that feeling of dread which, according to the ideas of the sacred writers, the pagans always experience when divine wonders and God’s judgment manifest themselves on earth (Exod 14:4; Ps 95:9-10; Isa 19:16; Hab 3:9 and others). But the pagans’ realization of Yahweh’s almighty power is not yet their perfect turning to Him; such a turning will follow only when Yahweh after judgment turns His mercy also to the pagan nations (Zeph 3:9-10). Besides the general thought of the conversion of the pagans to Yahweh, in Zeph 2:11 is contained also a more specific thought of worship of Yahweh “each from his place”: therefore the future service of the pagans to Yahweh here is understood not in the sense of their coming to Jerusalem to worship Him (as in Isa 2:2-3; Jer 3:17; Mic 4:1-2), but in the sense of their expression of their religious sentiments toward Yahweh in the countries of their dwelling. Later the prophet Malachi prophesied about this (Mal 1:11), but the beginning of the complete fulfillment of this was proclaimed by Christ the Savior in His conversation with the Samaritan woman (John 4:23). “The prophetic word,” he says, “that they will worship Him each from his place. And this takes place not according to the law, but according to the evangelical teaching; for the law gathered everyone in that one temple. But the Lord in the Gospel says to the Samaritan woman: Truly, truly I tell you, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem, but in every place. John 4:21-23). The wise Zephaniah speaks the same” (Blessed Theodoret, p. 50). After pointing out the main purpose of God’s judgment over the world (verse 11), the prophet again returns to depicting God’s judgment in the fate of individual peoples, now stopping on two peoples remote from the land of Israel and the most powerful of that time: the Ethiopians (verse 12) and the Assyrians, chiefly on their capital Nineveh (verses 13–15).

Zephaniah 2:12. And you, Ethiopians, will be struck down by My sword. The prophet “remembers every tribe or nation that warred against Israel and spoke ill of divine glory. Thus from the Moabites and Ammonites he turns to the Ethiopians, or to peoples living in the east and dwelling in the land bordering Persia, or to the Egyptians, as neighboring and adjacent to the Israelites; and the land of Egypt is part of Ethiopia” (St. Cyril of Alexandria, p. 365). For information about the location of the land of the Kushites, Heb. Kushim, or Ethiopians, Gr. Αἰθιόπες, Slavonic “Moors,” see the Commentary Bible, vol. II, p. 525. Naming the Kushites and probably also implying the neighboring and historically connected Egyptians (cf. Ezek 29:10; Isa 20:3-5; 2 Sam 19:9), the prophet threatens them on behalf of Yahweh that they will be struck by His sword, Heb. haplet-sharbi (cf. Isa 66:16; Jer 25:33). The might of the Ethiopians (cf. Isa 18:2; Nah 3:8), from a human perspective, might have seemed invincible, but Yahweh says that their enemies will be aided by Him—the black skin color of the inhabitants of Ethiopia (Jer 13:23) served as a pretext for Christian symbolism to see in the “Ethiopians,” “Moors” the image of evil spirits; “he means by the word ‘Moors’ a host of demons conquered by the approach of the saving cross” (blessed Theodoret, p. 50). From the dwellers of the distant southwest the prophet now turns in the directly opposite direction—to the distant northeast, to a people that was one of the most frightful enemies of God’s people—the Assyrians, Zeph 2:13-15. Considerably greater detail in the prophet’s speech about the destruction and desolation of Assyria and Nineveh, possibly has in view the turning away of the contemporary Judeans, including Josiah, who perished, as is known, due to an unwise devotion to the interests of Assyria, which prompted him to voluntarily set out against the Egyptian Pharaoh (2 Sam 23:29; 2 Chr 35:20-24), from an unwise and disastrous attraction to an alliance with Assyria, whose days were already numbered.

Zephaniah 2:13. And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria, and will turn Nineveh into a desolation, a dry place like a desert, All the prophet Zephaniah’s threatening speech about the imminent devastation of Assyria and Nineveh in content and character resembles the prophecy of Nahum about the same subject (see Nah 1:1 and following). Only in the words of the prophet Zephaniah one seems to feel the immediate nearness of the coming catastrophe on Assyria and Nineveh: God’s punishing hand is already stretched over Nineveh and Assyria (v. 13a), and fatal disasters are ready to rush upon this city and land as an irresistible flood. “I will look,” he says, “at the inhabitants of lands to the east and north, and together with others will destroy the Assyrians and to the devastated cities will also add the most famous Nineveh—the chief city of the Chaldeans. It will be without water, like impenetrable and uninhabited lands... To this he adds a considerable number of other signs...” (St. Cyril of Alexandria, p. 367).

Zephaniah 2:14. and herds will lie down in the middle of it, and all kinds of animals; the pelican and the hedgehog will lodge in its ornamental capitals; their voice will resound in the windows; desolation will be seen on the thresholds, for the cedar will be stripped bare. A powerful and vivid artistic picture of the terrible desolation awaiting Nineveh and all Assyria, resembling the equally magnificent depiction by the prophet Isaiah of the complete desolation of Babylon (Isa 13:1, especially Isa 13:20-22) and of Edom (Isa 34:11-15). Wild beasts like the pelican and raven, animals like the hedgehog will be the only inhabitants of the ruins of once-flourishing land. “For any rational person there is no doubt that neither hedgehogs live in houses nor beasts choose lodging for themselves in the middle of a city, and nocturnal ravens reluctantly live in its gates, unless in these places there is complete and very pleasant peace for a being with such a nature; because beasts and other animals of which the speech is made do not like to live together with people, but seek places where there would be the possibility of greater solitude and perfectly quiet life for them, and where the vast desert as it were provides them safety and frees them from all fear” (St. Cyril of Alexandria, pp. 367–368). “But all this,” says the prophet, “Nineveh will suffer for the arrogance of its soul; because its arrogance was like a cedar” (blessed Theodoret, p. 51).

Zephaniah 2:15. Behold what this city has become—the one that lived in triumph, that said in its heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” How she has become a desolation, a lair for beasts! Everyone passing by her will hiss and shake his hand. The final verse gives a characterization of Nineveh’s pride and at the same time depicts the striking contrast that exists between the former flourishing state of this city and its final desolation and transformation into a beast’s lair—in the near future. The boundless and unbridled pride of Nineveh was expressed in the conviction devoid of all measure: “I am—and there is no one besides me” (cf. Isa 47:8). All the greater astonishment, bordering on horror, will be aroused by the sight of the complete desolation of the once-glorious capital of not only Assyria but of all Asia; every passer-by in astonishment and horror will hiss and shake his hand (cf. 1 Sam 9:8; Jer 48:16)—“because it is the custom of people, when disasters come unexpectedly, to hiss and raise their hands up.” (blessed Theodoret, p. 51). * * * Annotations “Perhaps you will somehow be hidden in the day of the burning wrath of God,” that is, perhaps by chance, as a result of seeking the Lord and practicing His righteousness, you will have the possibility to escape the wrath in the coming day and avoid captivity” (blessed Jerome, p. 270). Slavonic: “Woman, believe Me, for a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem!”