ZEPHANIAH 3:8

I began looking at this prophetic verse for an entirely different reason (which I will mention at the end). However, the comments of scholars on this difficult verse led me in an entirely different direction. It appeared to present a good example of the amount of ambiguity built into much Old Testament prophecy. And if even the original prophecies themselves are subject to different interpretations in their original settings, then imagine how much more uncertainty there is in the various attempts to apply these sorts of prophetic words to present or future events. All such confident pronouncements on current or near-term fulfillment should be taken with a grain of salt, or even more.

Here is the verse in full according to the RSV:

    a. “Therefore wait for me,” says the LORD, “for the day when I arise as a witness.

    b. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms,

    c. to pour out upon them my indignation,

    d. all the heat of my anger;

    e. for in the fire of my jealous wrath all the earth shall be consumed.”

One of the first items of disagreement concerns whether this verse more properly belongs to the judgments preceding it or the promises which follow. And there is the related item concerning which group the judgment and promise is referring to: the Gentile nations, the Jews, or both. There is quite a division of opinion on these related subject:

    J.B. Payne applies 3:8 to judgment on the Gentiles and 3:9 on their restoration. But D.W. Baker applies this to judgment on all mankind, Jew or Gentile, but more specifically Judah.

    Childs feels that the threats are strictly against the Gentile nations.

    Boda says that “the depiction of Jerusalem's sins in Zephaniah 3:1-7 is clearly linked to the material that follows in Zephaniah 3:8-13 through the particle laken ('therefore'), showing how the attack on Jerusalem sets up the call for the faithful to wait for Yahweh to purge the nation and nations.”

    “...divine wrath also targets 'the nations' generally” as in Zeph. 3:8.” (Lamb)

    R.L. Smith: “Such judgment on the nations [as in 6-8] should have caused Judah to fear the Lord, but it seems only to spur her on to sin more and more....Finally there is Yahweh's decision to gather the nations perhaps including Israel or Judah and pour out his fierce anger on the whole world.”

    Berlin says, “The addressee is unclear; perhaps the same as in v. 7, that is, Jerusalem. If so, Jerusalem, not yet convinced of God's power (in vv. 6-7), will be convinced when he again rises to destroy the nations.”

    “After the immediately preceding verses, it might be expected that the prophet would focus his announcement of judgment specifically on Jerusalem. This recalcitrant city has resisted every approach of God in his goodness and severity. But instead the prophet depicts an assembly of all nations. God shall pour out his wrath on the entire earth. The persistent rebellion of Jerusalem will lead to the destruction of all people, not merely to the punishment of Judah.” (Robertson)

    Finally, Boda says that “Yahweh's plan is to prompt an international crisis...to bring judgment on the sins of cities such as Nineveh and Jerusalem and their representative nations.”

In addition, there is a great deal of uncertainty among scholars concerning the meaning of the opening words in Zephaniah 3:8a:

    R.L. Smith: “The command 'Wait for me' is “seemingly addressed to the nations. But the transition between vv 7 and 8 may be so rough that those being addressed are not the nations but the pious remnant of the Jews...This language comes very close to being apocalyptic.”

    R.K. Harrison feels that the words are “a sarcastic statement to Judah to wait for the threatened catastrophe” on them.

    “To wait on him implies trust and confidence in the covenant Lord and his promises to his people...There is hope here even in the midst of the promise of judgment.” (Bridger)

Some of the above uncertainty is related to the great difficulty in making sense of the last half of 3:8a. Just look at how different translations render that phrase:

    KJV: “when I rise up to the prey”

    NEB: “when I stand up to accuse you”

    NRSV: “when I rise as a witness

    JB: “when I make my accusation”

    TEV: “when I accuse the nations”

    NIV: “I will stand up to testify” with a note appended to explain that this is the Aramaic and Septuagint renderings whereas the Hebrew text reads “I will rise up to plunder.”

In addition, the Latin Vulgate takes the problem word le'ad as la'ad instead, which means “forever” or once and for all.” Berlin further explains, “Most modern translations follow the LXX, reading le'ad 'as a witness.' The MT [standard Hebrew text] as it is vocalized means 'for booty.'” Others translate it as 'for the prey,' 'from the throne,' or 'to array in battle.'”

Robertson discusses this issue at great length without really coming to any firm conclusion:

    "If the nations were to serve as witnesses to the trial of Jerusalem..., the [translation 'coming to testify'] would make sense. But before whom is the Lord to offer his 'testimony' if the entire world is to be brought to trial? Therefore, some support may be found for understanding the phrase to mean the Lord will come 'for the prey'...However, this figure...is quite foreign to the present context...More probably this phrase may be understood as declaring God is coming to testify. This interpretation has some problems in view of the universal character of the judgment being depicted.”

    “One possible solution might be to alter the consonantal text slightly so that it affirms that God will assemble the nations that he may pour out his wrath on you, the residents of Jerusalem, rather than on them, the inhabitants of all the earth.” At this point Robertson goes back to the translation “to testify” and invokes some additional OT passages in which God testifies without a third party present to hear His witness. See Jeremiah 29:25 and Malachi 3:3-5.

And to add one further complication into the mix, the Jerusalem Bible deletes Zephaniah 3:8e entirely with the explanation that it is a later emendation. However, there is absolutely no manuscript evidence to justify such a bold move, only the fact that the same phrase appeared earlier in Zephaniah 1:18. Such duplications are, however, quite common in the Bible and often serve as markers to delineate individual literary passages or act as parallels binding together similar sections within a book. The latter appears to be the case here since my own literary analysis of the book, shown in abbreviated form below, indicates that this telltale phrase serves to close one parallel unit (I) and open another one (I').

The Structure of the Book of Zephaniah

I. The Day of the Lord: Judgment (1:2-18)

A. Universal Events (1:2-3)

B. Against Judah (1:4-13)

A'. Universal Events (1:14-18)

II. Call to Repentance (2:1-4)

III. Oracle to the Nations (2:5-15)

II'. Call to Repentance (3:1-7)

I'. The Day of the Lord: Salvation (3:8-20)

                        A. Universal Events (3:8-10)

                                    B. Regarding Judah (3:11-18)

                        A'. Universal Events (3:19-20)

As a final note explaining how my attention was drawn to Zephaniah 3:8 in the first place. In an essay by Don Curtis, he pointed out an interesting fact not mentioned in any of the standard commentaries I consulted. This verse happens to contain all 22 Hebrew letters. His conclusion was, “Such constructions require author intent and show the literary importance of the Hebrews letters in Hebrew literature.” I would have been more impressed with this phenomenon if there were only 22 letters in the verse. However, Zeph. 3:8 happens to be a rather long verse and contains 110 letters, by my count. Therefore this may very well represent only a coincidence, even though I do agree with Curtis concerning the importance of the Hebrew alphabet from a literary point of view (see my post “Acrostics in the Bible”).