Verses 1-7
D. Judgment on Jerusalem 3:1-7
Having announced that divine judgment would come on the nations around Judah (Zephaniah 2:4-15), the prophet returned to the subject of Yahweh’s judgment on the Chosen People (cf. Zephaniah 1:4 to Zephaniah 2:3), but this time he focused more particularly on Jerusalem. Though he did not mention Jerusalem by name, it is clearly in view.
"Like Isaiah and Micah, he is a prophet of the city, open-eyed to its faults; unlike them, his focus is almost wholly civic and religious. But he draws the fundamental dividing line in the same place: whatever the basis on which the world is judged, the people of God are judged for turning from revealed truth (Amos 2:4) and for neglecting proffered spiritual privileges (Isaiah 65:2).
"Like Amos, Zephaniah uses the rhetorical device of condemning surrounding nations, but all the while-unannounced to his hearers-bringing their own condemnation ever closer." [Note: Ibid., p. 941.]
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