Zephaniah 2:8-10

Zephaniah 2:8-2 Samuel : . Into the natural context of the passage a later writer has woven a prophecy of vengeance on Moab and Ammon for their revilings and insults heaped upon Judah (on the day of Jerusalem’ s downfall), For this their land shall become waste as Sodom and Gomorrah, a perpetual desolation, overrun by nettles and saltpits, while the remnant of Judah shall plunder them and hold them in bondage.

Zephaniah 2:9 . a possession: an obscure word, probably meaning “ inherited by.”— The desolation of Sodom and Gomorrah was proverbial ( cf. Isaiah 1:9).

Zephaniah 2:11 . A still later addition, universalising the judgment, but following it up with a prophecy of Yahweh s world-wide reign.

Zephaniah 2:12 . Probably the original sequel to the oracle of doom ( Zephaniah 2:1-Judges :). The natural path of the storm would be through Egypt to Ethiopia; but the doom on Egypt is absent, while even that on Ethiopia is suspiciously brief. The prophecy may have been curtailed in process of redaction.

Zephaniah 2:13-Ezra : . While one arm of the devastating flood has passed through Palestine to Egypt and Ethiopia, another sweeps north to Assyria, overwhelming the proud capital Nineveh, making her a desolation, the haunt of lonely herds and creatures of the waste.

Zephaniah 2:14 . For “ beasts of the nations” read “ beasts of the field” (LXX).— For qol, “ voice,” read kos, the little owl that haunted ruins ( cf. Psalms 102:6), and for horeb, “ drought” ( mg.), read ‘ oreb, “ the raven” (LXX): thus, “ The owl shall hoot in the window, the raven at the doorstep” ( cf. Isaiah 34:11). The closing phrase is a mere dittograph to the opening words of Zephaniah 2:15.— On the desolation of Nineveh cf. Nahum 2:11 ff.