Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! Zephaniah 3:1-5 A religious city terribly degenerate Homilist. I. A PROFESSEDLY RELIGIOUS CITY TERRIBLY DEGENERATED. 1. The princes are mentioned. They are "roaring lions." 2. The judges are mentioned. They are "evening wolves." 3. The prophets are mentioned. They are "light and treacherous persons." 4. The priests are mentioned.These "polluted the sanctuary," by desecrating the sacred, and outraged the "law," by distorting its meaning and misrepresenting its genius and aim. II. A PROFESSEDLY RELIGIOUS CITY TERRIBLY DEGENERATED ALTHOUGH GOD WAS SPECIALLY WORKING IN ITS MIDST. "The just Lord is in the midst thereof; He will not do iniquity: every morning doth He bring His judgment to light, He faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame." 1. The wonderful freedom which the Almighty allows to wicked men on this earth. Though He strives to improve them, He does not coerce them. He makes no invasion of their moral agency. 2. The tremendous force of human depravity. What a power sin gains over man!(1) Do not hinder Christian propagandism from entering a city because it is nominally Christian. The Gospel is wanted there perhaps more than anywhere else.(2) Do not expect that the world will be morally renovated by miraculous agency. Almighty Goodness does not coerce. There is no way by which mere force can travel to a man's soul. ( Homilist. )

Benson Commentary Zephaniah 3:1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! Zephaniah 3:1-2 . Wo to her that is filthy — (Bishop Newcome reads, rebellious, and the Vulgate, provoking, ) and polluted — That is, defiled with various crimes; to the oppressing city — It is well deserving of our notice, that the oppression of the poor is always ranked by God among those things which are most offensive to him. She obeyed not the voice — Namely, of God’s messengers, the prophets. She received not correction — Or instruction, as ???? may be rendered: she did not attend to it; was not amended by it. She trusted not in the Lord — Did not place her confidence and hopes in the power and goodness of God, but in other things. She drew not near to God — In prayer and praise, and other acts of worship. Zephaniah 3:2 She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God. Zephaniah 3:3 Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. Zephaniah 3:3-4 . Her princes are roaring lions — Are like devouring lions, who roar in the act of seizing their prey. Her judges are evening wolves — Like so many beasts of prey. The princes and judges devour the people by injustice and oppression. They gnaw not the bones till the morrow — That is, they greedily devour every thing immediately, as soon as they lay hold on it. This expresses very forcibly the violence and oppression of which the great men in Jerusalem were guilty toward the poor, and their greediness after gain. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons — This is to be understood of the false prophets, who seduced the people by lying pretences to inspiration. Her priests have polluted the sanctuary, &c. — They have presumed to attend upon my service in the temple, after they had polluted themselves with idolatry, and thereby have profaned my holy place, (see chap. Zephaniah 1:4 ,) and have broken the ordinances of my law in many things. Zephaniah 3:4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. Zephaniah 3:5 The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame. Zephaniah 3:5 . The just Lord is in the midst thereof — Namely, of Jerusalem, and sees all these things. He will not do iniquity — He is just and holy, and will do nothing but what is right; nor will he suffer wickedness to pass unpunished. Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light — “The sense is, not a day passes but we see instances of his goodness to righteous men, and of his vengeance on the wicked.” — Newcome. The expression, every morning, alludes to the custom of the Jews and neighbouring nations, who passed judgment only in the morning. He faileth not — He never omits thus to act. But the unjust knew not shame — The wicked continue to be hardened in their sins, and will not be induced to forsake them by any consideration, either of the baseness and evil of their conduct, or of the judgments of God continually inflicted on transgressors. Zephaniah 3:6 I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. Zephaniah 3:6-7 . I have cut off the nations — I have executed vengeance upon that great city Nineveh, Zephaniah 2:15 , and have brought my judgments nearer to you, by giving up your brethren of the ten tribes into the hands of Shalmaneser; who hath put an end to that kingdom, and hath carried its inhabitants captive into a strange land: see 2 Kings 17:6 . I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction — This is addressed to the city of Jerusalem. And God is here introduced as speaking after the manner of men, and signifying what effect it was reasonable to conclude the execution of his judgments upon the ten tribes would have had upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; that it would have caused them to fear him, and to have taken example, from the destruction of their brethren, to avoid similar crimes, and obey the laws which God had given them. So their dwelling should not be cut off — In order that by that means their city and country might be saved from destruction. But they rose early, and corrupted all their doings — But they, as it were with diligence and assiduity, corrupted their ways, and daily proceeded to greater and greater acts of wickedness. The expression, to rise early to do a thing, signifies to do it with assiduity, and with a great inclination, or good-will toward it. Zephaniah 3:7 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. Zephaniah 3:8 Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. Zephaniah 3:8 . Therefore — Rather, Nevertheless, wait ye upon me, saith the Lord — “Notwithstanding these provocations, saith God, I exhort the godly among you to expect the fulfilment of the promises I have made, of restoring the Jewish nation to my wonted favour in the latter ages of the world: in order to which great crisis, I will execute remarkable judgments upon the unbelievers and disobedient.” Thus Lowth. It is very common with the prophets to subjoin the most comfortable promises to the most fearful threatenings, and, after having denounced the captivity, to foretel the deliverance of his people; but the prophet here seems to look further, even to the gospel times, and perhaps to the future and final restoration of the Jews. Until the day that I rise up to the prey — Until, as an enemy, I rise up to destroy first, and next to take the spoil: as if he had said, Since you, by your sins, continue to be mine enemies; so I will, by my judgments, show myself in arms against you as your enemy, namely, by the Chaldeans, who shall invade your country, and destroy and spoil you. For my determination — My fixed purpose, that which I have unalterably resolved on; is to gather the nations, &c. — All that are subject to the Chaldean monarchy; with all that are confederate with, or tributary to, the king of Babylon; to pour upon them — Upon the obstinate, incorrigible, and impious Jews first; mine indignation — Which by their sins they have kindled against themselves; for all the earth — Or, all the land, namely, the whole land of Judea, and her cities; shall be devoured — Consumed, as if burned up; with the fire of my jealousy — That jealousy wherewith God is concerned for his own glory, for his ordinances and statutes, which the Jewish people, their princes, prophets, and priests, had notoriously violated. Lowth thinks this may perhaps be meant of the same general summons which Joel speaks of, whereby the nations of the earth shall be gathered into the valley of Jehoshaphat: see notes on Joel 3:2 ; Joel 3:12 . Zephaniah 3:9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent. Zephaniah 3:9 . For then — Or, afterward, as the particle ?? seems to signify here, will I turn, or restore, to the people a pure language — I will turn them from their idolatries, and other wickedness, (see Zephaniah 3:13 ,) to glorify me with one mind and one mouth. The same thing is expressed by speaking the language of Canaan, Isaiah 19:18 . This promise seems primarily to respect the Jewish captives in Babylon, and to imply that God would, by the captivity, and other methods of his providence, so reform them and wean them from their idolatries and other sins, that they should, upon their return to their own land, all join together to glorify him with one mind and one mouth, and serve him alone in sincerity and truth. And this was accordingly, in a great measure, accomplished. For they never after their restoration worshipped different gods, as they had done before; but all joined, as well those of the ten tribes that returned, as those of Judah and Benjamin, in the worship of Jehovah alone; nor did the nation in general ever afterward fall into gross idolatry. And it is not to be doubted that their morals in general were much more pure when they returned from Babylon, than at the time they were carried thither. It is, however, generally supposed by commentators, that the full accomplishment of this promise is reserved for the latter days, after the conversion of the Jews, and the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles, when there shall be one Lord, and his name one, Zechariah 14:9 . Accordingly the word rendered people in the first clause is in the plural, ???? , peoples, I will restore to the peoples a pure language: an expression which could hardly be intended of the Jews only, but seems evidently to include the Gentiles also. To serve him with one consent — Hebrew, with one shoulder; that is, unanimously, and with joint endeavours. The metaphor is taken from beasts drawing together in one yoke, or men setting their shoulders together to one burden. Zephaniah 3:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. Zephaniah 3:10 . From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia — The expression, ???? , rendered from beyond, may be translated, from the borders of, as it signifies indifferently the hither or further side of a river. In the war with Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt, many of the Jews were made captive and carried into Egypt, and from thence were sold into Ethiopia, properly so called. This prophecy, therefore, in its primary sense, seems to signify, that the posterity of these, termed here by God the daughter of his dispersed, should bring him an offering, namely, into his temple. And accordingly Cyrus, entering into an alliance with the Ethiopians, obtained that the Jews, who were captives among them, should have their liberty restored to them, that so they might return with others to their own country. In like manner Ptolemy Philadelphus, as Josephus relates, purchased the liberty of a vast number of the Jews, who were captives, or slaves, in very distant countries. Thus were the prophecies of bringing them from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and from beyond the sea, very remarkably fulfilled. There can be no doubt, however, that this promise ultimately relates to the time when all Israel shall be saved, Romans 11:26 ; when “the Jews, who are dispersed in the most distant countries, such as was Ethiopia, which lay beyond Egypt, shall come into the Christian Church, and make their religious acknowledgments there.” — Lowth. Zephaniah 3:11 In that day shalt thou 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 rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain. Zephaniah 3:11 . In that day — Or, after that time; shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings — Thy guilt and thy punishment shall cease: thou shalt be pardoned and reformed. For then will I take away them that rejoice in thy pride — Or, greatness: or, as some render it, that exult in their pride. And thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain — That is, because of mount Zion, my temple, the sacrifices offered there, and the ordinances of my worship. I will purge out from thee those hypocrites who continue in their sins, unconcerned and unreformed, and yet rely on outward privileges, ordinances, and forms of worship. Thus Jeremiah represents them as exclaiming, The temple of the Lord! the temple of the Lord! while they little regarded the Lord of the temple. Thus the Popish clergy cry out, The church, the church, the Catholic Church! while in the mean time they neither enter into the true church themselves, nor permit those to enter that are so inclined. Zephaniah 3:12 I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. Zephaniah 3:12-13 . I will also leave in the midst of thee — Of Judea and Jerusalem; an afflicted and poor people — Hebrew, ?? ??? ??? , a people humble, or meek, and poor. When the Chaldeans carried away the Jews into captivity, they left of the poor of the land for vine-dressers and husbandmen; and such as returned from the Babylonish captivity were generally both poor and lowly, and dead to all confidence in external privileges. These were a type and figure of God’s spiritual remnant, who, at the coming of the Messiah, should believe on him, and embrace his gospel; who were both poor in spirit, and generally poor as to this world, and were meek and lowly in heart, and very different in their dispositions from the proud, self-righteous Pharisees, who rejected Christ on account of his appearing among them in a state of poverty, reproach, and humiliation. And they shall trust in the name of the Lord — Not in their descent from Abraham, their rite of circumcision, their city or temple, or any of their civil or religious advantages, but only in the Lord, in his mercy, power, and faithfulness. The remnant of Israel — Preserved in the captivity and dispersion, purified in the furnace of affliction, and now restored to their own land; shall not do iniquity — Shall not commit the sins they formerly committed, nor provoke God with their idolatries and other abominations as before; they shall be reformed and righteous. Nor speak lies — Nor shall they deceive each other, as they had been wont to do: they shall be honest and upright, men of veracity and fidelity. Neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth — Their spirit being without guile, their speech shall be without deceit. For they shall feed — Or, They shall also feed, and lie down — That is, they shall abound in necessary things, and live securely; a blessing which shall be added as a crown of their piety and truth. And none shall make them afraid — So as to induce them to commit iniquity, or speak lies: or, they shall be in no fear of any of the neighbouring nations, but shall have perfect peace on all sides. But this promise undoubtedly was to receive its full accomplishment only in the holy and happy state of the Christian Church, fed and protected by the good Shepherd, and safe under his watchful care; especially in the latter days, and during his millennial reign. Compare the places referred to in the margin. Zephaniah 3:13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. Zephaniah 3:14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. Zephaniah 3:14-15 . Sing, O daughter of Zion — At that time, O daughter of Zion, thou shalt break forth into loud and joyful praises to Jehovah, for his goodness toward thee; and thou mayest even now do it, for thou shalt certainly enjoy this prosperous state. The injunction here to Zion, to be thankful and joyful, is trebled, sing, shout, and rejoice, as it is elsewhere in both Testaments; and it is a sin for the people of God not to rejoice, as well as not to repent. Thus, after the promises to take away sin, here follow promises of the taking away of trouble; for when the cause is removed, the effect will cease. What makes a people holy, will make them happy of course. But the precious promises here made to God’s purified people, although in some measure fulfilled to the Jews at their return from captivity, yet, in their full propriety of meaning, belong to the times of the gospel, and have their full accomplishment only in the comforts and joyful hopes of future felicity, which are the portion of the true disciples of the Lord Jesus. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments — That is, thy punishments. The prophet speaks of what was future, as though it were already past; of what God certainly would do, as if it were done already. He hath cast out thine enemy — Hath taken away the power of hurting thee from those who were before injurious to thee; or, hath removed thine enemies, who were the instruments of his vengeance. The King of Israel, &c ., is in the midst of thee — He is returned to redeem and save thee, and gives manifest tokens of his presence in thee, and protection over thee. Thou shalt not see evil any more — While thy conduct is as becomes my presence with thee, thou shalt neither feel, nor have cause to fear, such evils as thou hast formerly suffered. Zephaniah 3:15 The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. Zephaniah 3:16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. Zephaniah 3:16-17 . In that day — Or, time of restitution, when the captives shall return and be settled in their own land; it shall be said to Jerusalem — By prophets, or by friends congratulating and encouraging them; Fear thou not — Disquiet not yourselves with unnecessary fears, though you may apprehend some danger from Sanballat, Tobiah, and the Samaritans: see Nehemiah 4:1-2 ; and though you shall have troublesome times, Daniel 9:25 . Let not thy hands be slack — In the work of the Lord, in rebuilding the city and temple, and restoring the worship of God. The Lord — Hebrew, Jehovah; thy God — Thine in a covenant never to be repealed or forgotten; in the midst of thee is mighty — He can and will restrain and destroy thine enemies, and support and defend his own people. He will save, &c. — Will deliver thee from thy fears, and thine enemies’ rage. Will rejoice over thee with joy — Will greatly rejoice in thee, and take pleasure in blessing and doing thee good. He will rest in his love — Will continue peculiarly to love thee, and will take satisfaction in so doing. These promises also, in their full sense, belong only to the Christian Church, composed of converted Jews and Gentiles, and shall be completely fulfilled during the millennium, when believers will have, as it were, a heaven on earth. Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. Zephaniah 3:18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. Zephaniah 3:18-20 . I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly — I will collect together those Israelites who are dispersed in their several captivities, both that of Babylon, and those of following times; who mourn for the loss of the public ordinances, and are grieved at the reproaches wherewith their enemies upbraid them, as if they were utterly forsaken of God. Behold — Mark well; at that time I will undo all that afflict thee — I will break the power, and dissolve the kingdom of thy enemies and oppressors, particularly of the Babylonians. And I will save her that halteth — Who is in trouble, and ready to fall; and gather her that was driven out — Into remote countries. And I will get them praise, &c., where they have been put to shame — I will cause them to have fame, even in those places where they have been scoffed at and held in contempt. I will make you a name, &c., when I turn back your captivity — When I cause you to return out of captivity, I will make your name great, and ye shall be the subject of men’s praise among all the nations around. So the Christian Church was, when it was made to flourish in the world, for there is that truth and grace, that piety and virtue in it, which may justly recommend it to the value and esteem of all the people of the earth; and so the universal church of the firstborn will be in the great day, when the saints shall be brought together to Christ, that he may be admired and glorified in them, and they admired and glorified in and through him, before angels and men. Then will God’s Israel be a name and a praise to all eternity. Zephaniah 3:19 Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. Zephaniah 3:20 At that time will I bring you again , even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Zephaniah 3:1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! SO AS BY FIRE Zephaniah 3:1-20 THE third chapter of the Book of Zephaniah consists of two sections, of which only the first, Zephaniah 3:1-13 , is a genuine work of the prophet; while the second, Zephaniah 3:14-20 , is a later epilogue such as we found added to the genuine prophecies of Amos. It is written in the large hope and brilliant temper of the Second Isaiah, saying no word of Judah’s sin or judgment, but predicting her triumphant deliverance out of all her afflictions. In a second address to his city ( Zephaniah 3:1-13 ) Zephaniah strikes the same notes as he did in his first. He spares the king, but denounces the ruling and teaching classes. Jerusalem’s princes are lions, her judges wolves, her prophets braggarts, her priests pervert the law, her wicked have no shame. He repeats the proclamation of a universal doom. But the time is perhaps later. Judah has disregarded the many threats. She will not accept the Lord’s discipline; and while in Zephaniah 1:1-18 - Zephaniah 2:3 Zephaniah had said that the meek and righteous might escape the doom, he now emphatically affirms that all proud and impenitent men shall be removed from Jerusalem, and a humble people be left to her, righteous and secure. There is the same moral earnestness as before, the same absence of all other elements of prophecy than the ethical. Before we ask the reason and emphasize the beauty of this austere gospel, let us see the exact words of the address. There are the usual marks of poetic diction in it-elliptic phrases, the frequent absence of the definite article, archaic forms, and an order of the syntax different from that which obtains in prose. But the measure is difficult to determine, and must be printed as prose. The echo of the elegiac rhythm in the opening is more apparent than real: it is not sustained beyond the first verse. Zephaniah 3:9 and Zephaniah 3:10 are relegated to a footnote, as very probably an intrusion, and disturbance of the argument. "Woe, rebel and unclean, city of oppression! She listens to no voice, she accepts no discipline, in Jehovah she trusts not, nor has drawn near to her God. Her princes in her midst are roaring lions; her judges evening wolves, they not till morning; her prophets are braggarts and traitors; her priests have profaned what is holy and done violence to the Law. Jehovah is righteous in the midst of her, He does no wrong. Morning by morning He brings His judgment to light: He does not let Himself fail-but the wicked man knows no shame. I have cut off nations, their turrets are ruined; I have laid waste their broad streets, till no one passes upon them; destroyed are their cities, without a man, without a dweller. I said, Surely she will fear Me, she will accept punishment, and all that I have visited upon her shall never vanish from her eyes. But only the more zealously have they corrupted all their doings. Wherefore wait ye for Me-oracle of Jehovah-wait for the day of My rising to testify, for ‘tis My fixed purpose to sweep nations together, to collect kingdoms, to pour upon them all the heat of My wrath-yea, with the fire of My jealousy shall the whole earth be consumed." "In that day thou shalt not be ashamed of all thy deeds, by which thou hast rebelled against Me: for then will I turn out of the midst of thee all who exult with that arrogance of thine, Jill and thou wilt not again vaunt thyself upon the Mount of My Holiness. But I will leave in thy midst a people humble and poor, and they shall trust in the name of Jehovah. The Remnant of Israel shall do no evil, and shall not speak falsehood, and no fraud shall be found in their mouth, but they shall pasture and they shall couch, with none to make them afraid." Such is the simple and austere gospel of Zephaniah. It is not to be overlooked amid the lavish and gorgeous promises which other prophets have poured around it, and by ourselves, too, it is needed in our often unscrupulous enjoyment of the riches of grace that are in Christ Jesus. A thorough purgation, the removal of the wicked, the sparing of the honest and the meek; insistence only upon the rudiments of morality and religion; faith in its simplest form of trust in a righteous God, and character in its basal elements of meekness and truth, -these and these alone survive the judgment. Why does Zephaniah never talk of the Love of God, of the-Divine Patience, of the Grace that has spared and will spare wicked hearts if only it can touch them to penitence? Why has he no call to repent, no appeal to the wicked to turn from the evil of their ways? We have already seen part of the answer. Zephaniah stands too near to judgment and the last things. Character is fixed, the time for pleading is past; there remains only the separation of bad men from the good. It is the same standpoint (at least ethically) as that of Christ’s visions of the Judgment. Perhaps also an austere gospel was required by the fashionable temper of the day. The generation was loud and arrogant; it gilded the future to excess, and knew no shame. The true prophet was forced to reticence; he must make his age feel the desperate earnestness of life, and that salvation is by fire. For the gorgeous future of its unsanctified hopes he must give it this severe, almost mean, picture of a poor and humble folk, hardly saved but at last at peace. The permanent value of such a message is proved by the thirst which we feel even today for the clear, cold water of its simple promises. Where a glaring optimism prevails, and the future is preached with a loud assurance, where many find their only religious enthusiasm in the resurrection of mediaeval ritual or the singing of stirring and gorgeous hymns of secondhand imagery, how needful to be recalled to the earnestness and severity of life, to the simplicity of the conditions of salvation, and to their ethical, not emotional, character! Where sensationalism has so invaded religion, how good to hear the sober insistence upon God’s daily commonplaces-"morning by morning He bringeth forth His judgment to light"-and to know that the acceptance of discipline is what prevails with Him. Where national reform is vaunted and the progress of education, how well to go back to a prophet who ignored all the great reforms of his day that he might impress his people with the indispensableness of humility and faith. Where Churches have such large ambitions for themselves, how necessary to hear that the future is destined for "a poor folk," the meek and the honest. Where men boast that their religion-Bible, Creed, or Church-has undertaken to save them, "vaunting themselves on the Mount of My Holiness," how needful to hear salvation placed upon character and a very simple trust in God. But, on the other hand, is any one in despair at the darkness and cruelty of this life, let him hear how Zephaniah proclaims that, though all else be fraud, "the Lord is righteous in the midst" of us. "He doth not let Himself fail," that the resigned heart and the humble, the just, and the pure heart, is imperishable, and in the end there is at least peace. EPILOGUE Zephaniah 3:14-20 Zephaniah’s prophecy was fulfilled. The Day of the Lord came, and the people met their judgment. The Remnant survived-"a folk poor and humble." To them, in the new estate and temper of their life, came a new song from God-perhaps it was nearly a hundred years after Zephaniah had spoken-and they added it to his prophecies. It came in with wonderful fitness, for it was the song of the redeemed, whom he had foreseen, and it tuned his book, severe and simple, to the full harmony of prophecy, so that his book might take a place in the great choir of Israel-the diapason of that full salvation which no one man, but only the experience of centuries, could achieve. "Sing out, O daughter of Zion! shout aloud, O Israel! Rejoice and be jubilant with all thy heart, daughter of Jerusalem! Jehovah hath set aside thy judgments, He hath turned thy foes. King of Israel, Jehovah is in thy midst; thou shalt not see evil any more. "In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear not, O Zion, let not thy hands droop! Jehovah, thy God, in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy, He will make new His love, He will exult over thee with singing. "The scattered of thy congregation have I gathered-thine are they reproach upon her. Behold, I am about to do all for thy sake at that time, and I will rescue the lame and the outcast will I bring in, { Micah 4:6 } and I will make them for renown and fame whose shame is in the whole earth. In that time I will bring you in, even in the time that I gather you. For I will set you for fame and renown among, all the peoples of the earth, when I turn again your captivity before your eyes, saith Jehovah." The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.