Zephaniah 2:8-10

Into the natural context of the passage a later writer has woven a prophecy of vengeance on Moab and Ammon for their revilings and insults heaped upon Judah (on the day of Jerusalem's downfall), For this their land shall become waste as Sodom and Gomorrah, a perpetual desolation, overrun by nettles and saltpits, while the remnant of Judah shall plunder them and hold them in bondage.

Zephaniah 2:9. a possession: an obscure word, probably meaning inherited by. The desolation of Sodom and Gomorrah was proverbial (cf. Isaiah 1:9).

Zephaniah 2:11. A still later addition, universalising the judgment, but following it up with a prophecy of Yahweh s world-wide reign.

Zephaniah 2:12. Probably the original sequel to the oracle of doom (Zephaniah 2:1). The natural path of the storm would be through Egypt to Ethiopia; but the doom on Egypt is absent, while even that on Ethiopia is suspiciously brief. The prophecy may have been curtailed in process of redaction.

Zephaniah 2:13. While one arm of the devastating flood has passed through Palestine to Egypt and Ethiopia, another sweeps north to Assyria, overwhelming the proud capital Nineveh, making her a desolation, the haunt of lonely herds and creatures of the waste.

Zephaniah 2:14. For beasts of the nations read beasts of the field (LXX). For qol, voice, read kos, the little owl that haunted ruins (cf. Psalms 102:6), and for horeb, drought (mg.), read - oreb, the raven (LXX): thus, The owl shall hoot in the window, the raven at the doorstep (cf. Isaiah 34:11). The closing phrase is a mere dittograph to the opening words of Zephaniah 2:15. On the desolation of Nineveh cf. Nahum 2:11 ff.