Zephaniah 3:8 Themes and Topics

Now when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right and the goats on the left.

Those who sanctify themselves and those who cleanse themselves {to go into} the gardens after [the] one in the middle, eating the flesh of swine and detestable things and rodents together shall come to an end!" {declares} Yahweh. "And I--their works and thoughts!--[am] about to come to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory.

For look! In those days, and in that time, when I will return the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations, and I will bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will argue {a case against them} there concerning my people and my inheritance Israel whom they have scattered among the nations, and my land [that] they have divided. For my people they cast lots, and {they traded} the male child for the prostitute, and the female child they sold for wine and they drank [it]. read more.
What [are] you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all of the regions of Philistia? Are you repaying to me what is deserved? If you [are] recompensing me, I will return swiftly [and] quickly what you deserve on your head! For you have taken my silver and my gold, and my beautiful treasures you have carried into your temples. And the sons of Judah and Jerusalem you sold to the sons of the Greeks, in order to remove them from their border. Look! I [am] rousing them from the place where you have sold them, and I will return what you deserve on your head! I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to [the] Sabeans and to a nation far [away], for Yahweh has spoken. Proclaim this among the nations: {Prepare for war}! Stir up the mighty warriors; let them approach and come up; [let] all the men of war approach. Beat your cutting tools of iron into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weakling say, 'I am a mighty warrior!' Hurry and come, all the nations, from all around, and gather [yourselves] there. Bring down your mighty warriors, O Yahweh! Let the nations be roused and let them come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations from all around. Send forth [the] sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Go tread, for [the] winepress is full! The vats overflow, because their evil [is] great! Commotion, commotion in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh [is] near in the valley of decision!

"Therefore, wait for me"--a declaration of Yahweh-- "for the day of my rising as a witness. For my decision [is] to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out my wrath upon them, all my burning anger. For by the fire of my anger all the land shall be consumed. Verse Concepts

An oracle. The word of Yahweh concerning Israel. "{Thus declares} Yahweh, who stretches out [the] heavens, founds [the] earth, and forms the spirit of humankind in its midst: 'Look, I [am] going to make Jerusalem a cup of reeling for all the surrounding nations; it will also be against Judah in the siege against Jerusalem. {And then} on that day I will make Jerusalem a stone weight for all the peoples. All those lifting it up will grievously hurt themselves, and all the nations of the earth will assemble against it.

Look! A day [is] coming for Yahweh, when your plunder will be divided in your midst. I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, and they will loot the houses, and the women will be raped; half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be cut off from the city.

And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are the spirits of demons performing signs that go out to the kings of the whole inhabited world, to gather them for the battle of the great day of God the All-Powerful. (Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed [is] the one who is on the alert and who keeps his clothing, so that he does not walk around naked and they see his shamefulness!) read more.
And he gathered them to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.

But Yahweh [is] the true God, he [is] the living God, and {an everlasting king}. Because of his wrath the earth quakes, and [the] nations cannot endure his anger. Verse Concepts

"Therefore, wait for me"--a declaration of Yahweh-- "for the day of my rising as a witness. For my decision [is] to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out my wrath upon them, all my burning anger. For by the fire of my anger all the land shall be consumed. Verse Concepts

"Yes, look, I [am] going to command and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations like one who shakes with a sieve, but not a pebble will fall [to the] ground. Verse Concepts

and the nations will know that because of their guilt the house of Israel went into exile, {because} they acted unfaithfully against me, and I hid my face from them, and I gave them into the hand of their foes, and they fell by the sword, all of them. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgression I dealt with them, and I hid my face from them.

"{I continued watching} until thrones were placed and an Ancient of Days sat; his clothing [was] like white snow and the hair of his head [was] like pure wool and his throne [was] a flame of fire and its wheels [were] burning fire. A stream of fire issued forth and flowed {from his presence}; thousands [upon] thousands served him and ten thousand [upon] ten thousand stood before him. The judge sat, and [the] books were opened. "{I continued watching} then because of the noise of the boastful words of the horn [who was] speaking; {I continued watching} until the beast was slain and its body was destroyed, and it was given [over] to burning with fire. read more.
And [as for] the remainder of the beasts, {their dominion was taken away}, but a prolongation {of their life} was given to them for a season and a time.

"Therefore, wait for me"--a declaration of Yahweh-- "for the day of my rising as a witness. For my decision [is] to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out my wrath upon them, all my burning anger. For by the fire of my anger all the land shall be consumed. Verse Concepts

This [is] the plan that is planned concerning all of the earth; and this [is] the hand that is stretched out over all of the nations. For Yahweh of hosts has planned, and who will frustrate [it]? And his hand [is] stretched out, and who will turn it back?

Because of these [things] shall I not punish?" {declares} Yahweh, "and on a nation who [is] like this, shall I not take revenge? Verse Concepts

"Like this potter, am I not able to do to you, O house of Israel?" {declares} Yahweh. "Look, like the clay in the hand of the potter, so [are] you in my hand, O house of Israel. One moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy [it]. But [if] that nation turns back from its evil that I have threatened against it, then I will relent concerning the disaster that I planned to do to it. read more.
And the [next] moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to build, and to plant [it]. But [if] it does evil in my sight, to not listen to my voice, then I will relent concerning the good that I said I would do [to] it.

{And then} when [the] seventy years [are] fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' {declares} Yahweh, 'for their iniquity, and [the] land of [the] Chaldeans, and I will make it {an everlasting waste}. And I will bring upon that land all my words that I have spoken against it, everything that is written in this scroll which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings will let them work, even them, and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.'" read more.
For thus said Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me, "Take this cup of the wine [of] wrath from my hand, and you must give it [to] all the nations to whom I [am] sending you to drink. And they will drink, and they will stagger, and they will act like madmen because of the {presence} of the sword that I [am] sending among them." So I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and I gave [it] [to] all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me to drink: Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and its kings, [and] its officials, to make them a site of ruins, a horror, an [object of] hissing, and a curse, as [it is] this day; Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his officials, and all his people; and all the other people; and all the kings of the land of Uz; and all the kings of the land of [the] Philistines--Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, and Moab, and the {Ammonites}; and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland that [is] across the sea; and Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all those who are trimmed to [the] side; and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the other people who dwell in the desert; and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; and all the kings of the north, near and far, each one to his brother, and all the kingdoms of the world that [are] on the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach, he will drink after them. "And you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Drink and become drunk, and vomit, and fall, and you must not rise because of the {presence} of the sword that I [am] sending among you." ' And it will happen, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "You must certainly drink! For look, on the city that is called {by} my name I [am] beginning to inflict harm, and you indeed, will you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I [am] summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth," {declares} Yahweh of hosts.' And you yourself shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them: 'Yahweh will roar from [on] high, and from {his holy dwelling place} he will give his voice. He will roar mightily against his settlement, a jubilant shout like those who tread [grapes], he will answer against all the inhabitants of the earth. [The] rage of battle will resound to the end of the earth, for [there is] a lawsuit of Yahweh against the nations. He [is] entering into judgment with all wicked flesh, he will give them to the sword,' {declares} Yahweh." Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Look, disaster [is] going out from nation to nation, and a great tempest is stirred up from the farthest parts of [the] earth. And the slain [ones] of Yahweh will be on that day from [one] end of the earth to the [other] end of the earth, and they will not be mourned, and they will not be gathered, and they will not be buried. They will become like dung on the {surface} of the ground.

And he said to me, "Son of man, I am sending you to the {Israelites}, to nations [who are] rebelling, who rebelled against me, they and their ancestors, they transgressed against me {until this very day}. And the children [are] {impudent} and {stubborn}, [and so] I am sending you to them, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh!' And they, whether they listen or whether they fail [to listen], for they [are] a rebellious house, they will know that a prophet was in their midst.

Then I turned my face to the Lord God to seek [him] [by] prayer and pleas for mercy, in fasting and [in] sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed to Yahweh my God, and I made confession and I said, "O Lord, the great and awesome God, keeping the covenant and loyal love with [those who] love him and with [those who] keep his commandments, we have sinned and we have done wrong and we acted wickedly and we rebelled and [have been] turning aside from your commandments and from your ordinances. read more.
We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors and to all the people of the land. "{Righteousness belongs to you, O Lord}, and on us [is] open shame, [just] as [it is] this day to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, {those who are near and those who are far off} in all the lands [to] which you have driven them, because of their infidelity which they displayed against you. Yahweh, on us [is] open shame, on our kings, on our princes, and on our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. {Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord, our God}, for we have rebelled against him, and we have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God, by following his law {which he placed before us} by [the] hand of his servants the prophets. "And all Israel transgressed your law and turned aside [so as] not to listen to your voice, and [so] the curse and the oath which [was] written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. And [so] he [has] carried out his words which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring upon us great calamity which was not done under all [of] heaven as it was done in Jerusalem. Just as [it is] written in the law of Moses, all of this calamity has come upon us, and {we have not implored} the face of Yahweh our God [so as] to turn from our iniquities and to attend closely to your faithfulness. So Yahweh [has] kept watch over the calamity, and [now] he [has] brought it upon us. Indeed, Yahweh our God [is] righteous concerning all his works that he has done, but we have not listened to his voice. "And now, Lord our God, who have brought your people out from [the] land of Egypt with a strong hand, and you [have] made for yourself a name [until] this day--we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. Lord, according to all your righteousness, please let your anger and your rage turn away from your city Jerusalem, {your holy mountain}, because through our sins and through the iniquities of our ancestors Jerusalem and your people have become an object of mockery among all of our neighbors.