Biblion Bible Commentary
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Purified Lips and a Sheltered Remnant
Zephaniah 3:9-13
9 For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder. · WEB
The fire that devoured the earth turns out to have been refining, and the first thing restored is speech.
For then I will purify the lips of the peoples. The turn arrives without transition, and what is repaired first is language — lips cleansed so that all may call on Yahweh's name and serve him shoulder to shoulder. Scripture's other great story about the lips of the peoples runs the other way, scattering humanity by confusing speech Genesis 11:7–9. Here speech is purified so a scattered race can say one name together.
Verse 10 has worshipers arriving from beyond the rivers of Cush — the far edge of the known south, and the same region the prophet's own family name pointed toward.
Verses 11 to 13 describe who is left. The proudly exulting ones are removed; what remains is an afflicted and poor people who take refuge in Yahweh's name. The remnant does no iniquity and speaks no lies — the purified lips of verse 9, now theirs — and the promise given them is small and enormous: they will feed and lie down, and no one will make them afraid.
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