Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Zephaniah · About this commentary
The King in Your Midst
Zephaniah 3:14-20
14 Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. · WEB
The book that opened with God sweeping the earth bare ends with God singing over the people he kept.
Sing, daughter of Zion. The command that closes the book is the one thing chapter 1 could not have predicted, and verse 15 gives its grounds in three completed acts: the judgments taken away, the enemy thrown out, and the King of Israel — Yahweh himself — in the midst.
Verse 17 is the summit. He is in your midst, a mighty one who saves; he rejoices over you with joy; he will be quiet in his love; he rejoices over you with singing. The third clause is uncertain in a way worth naming: the Hebrew verb is charash H2790, to be silent, which some versions render as quieting the beloved and others as God himself falling silent in love. Either reading places God's affection between two shouts of joy.
What is not uncertain is who is singing. Scripture has God's people singing to him constantly; here he sings over them. The book ends with the lame saved, the driven gathered, and shame exchanged for praise — and the last words promise it will happen before their eyes.
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