In the previous chapter we saw the prophetic threat of the future Babylonian captivity. Now, 1) after the threat of disaster (as is the custom with all prophets), he exhorts to repentance, if they could be hidden in any way on the day of the Lord's wrath, that they might propitiate the Lord by public preaching and prayer, so that, if the whole nation should be destroyed, yet a few remnant might be preserved etc. And this is the summa of this chapter.
V. 1. Gather yourselves together and come here.
In Hebrew, these two verba are almost one and the same word. In German we would give it correctly like this: "Gather yourselves and come here."
Your hostile people (gens non amabilis).
That is, "you hostile people," who are worthy of hatred and not of love.
V. 2: Before the judgment (jussio) goes out.
In the Latin Bible one still added et visio, but it was put into the text by a klügling what was noted by another to indicate a different reading. But nevertheless the Hebrew word means neither a command nor a face, but a decision,
1) Wittenberger: Non statt: Nuno.
a judgment, something fixed, as in the 2nd Psalm, v. 6. f.: "But I have set my king upon my holy mountain Zion. I will preach of such a manner (praeceptum)," where in Hebrew is quite the same word. And Moses generally uses this word for ceremonial laws, as we also noted above in another place. It is therefore the short epitome of this saying: "The judgment against you is already determined and passed. The only thing that remains is that it has not yet gone out, that is, that it will be fulfilled; the exercise of the threat still remains.
That you, like the chaff by day, pass by.
The Hebrews make themselves' at this place big difficulties, and think it is a speech in which something is omitted (eclipticam). I hold that this is done without necessity, and read and understand it simply as follows: Before the judgment brings forth the day, which will be like the passing dust, that is, violently swept away as by a whirlwind. This way of speaking is frequent in Scripture. Ps. 1:4: "Like chaff scattered by the wind." Likewise Job 21:18: "They shall be as stubble which the whirlwind leadeth away." Therefore the opinion is: You will be scattered in that day as stubble or dust is scattered by the violence of the winds and the impetuosity of a storm.
Before the day of the Lord's wrath comes upon you.
In Hebrew there is a negation: Before the day does not come; but this is the way of the Hebrew language, that it sometimes expresses the affirmation by the negation. By the way, in our Latin Bible the word äiss ^the day] is omitted. For so it must be read, "Before the day of the Lord's wrath come upon you."
V. 3. Seek the Lord.
That is, see that you do not come together in vain, that your assembly is not in vain, but by prayer and preaching one calls another to repentance, you who are the wretched of the land. I translate the Hebrew word for mansueti: "miserable," lowly, oppressed, rejected before the world, to whom not many pay attention, who are not spoken of (άφατοι), who are without honor and riches. So also Christ came as a meek (mansuetus) king, as Matthew [Cap. 21, 5.] indicates from Zechariah [Cap. 9, 9.], that is, lowly, in no royal armor, pomp and glory, in whom everything appears quite contemptible etc. So also Mary sings of herself in her song [Luc. 1, 48.], "For he hath regarded the lowliness (or lowly nature) of his handmaid."
Who you hold his rights.
That is, if there are still some among you who care about godliness and the word of God, who ask for the Lord, who are humble, they should seek the Lord if he can be reconciled to them in some way, so that at least these very few will be preserved, while almost all the rest of the people perish.
Seek righteousness, seek humility.
This is how it must be read according to the Hebrew. This prophet urges humility before all others. For he knows that the humble please God, but the proud, the hopeful and the hardened despisers do not.
That ye may be hid in the day of the Lord's wrath.
That is, whether you could be protected in any way that you would not be protected by the
the wrath of the Lord that is to come. For the prophet is not saying that the captivity he has threatened can be revoked, but he commands them to pray to the Lord to protect and preserve them until his fierce wrath passes, so that they will not perish at the same time as the others. Job also prays in this way, Cap. 14, 13: "Oh that you would harden me until your wrath subsides.
V. 4. For Gaza must be abandoned.
He makes here a conclusion from the strength of Gaza and other cities, whose ruin and complete destruction he will threaten here. For it was a miracle, and is still with me an immense miracle, that the so small nation of the Philistines, so few people that they had only five cities, could always resist the Jews most fiercely, and to such an extent that they could never be conquered under any king and subdue Israel completely, than only under David. It is therefore the opinion of the prophet: You tribe of Judah and Benjamin are still left after Israel has been carried away and perished; now your calamity is also coming, there is also before you tremendous and severe captivity, which will be so great that it will destroy not only you, but also all the neighboring nations, however strong they may be. But the Latin interpreter has not been able to render the dainty word play, which is in the Hebrew. Because Gaza means the strength. And it is the opinion: Gaza, which is strong and powerful, will be abandoned and Ascalon will become desolate.
Asdod is to be expelled at noon.
Since I do not have a different opinion here, I follow Jerome's, although I have doubts about it: They will drive it out at midday, that is, in open combat, without all artifice, without all guile.
And acaron be rooted out.
Also here he alludes to the name, as if he wanted to say: as your name is, so you will experience it in fact. "You will become a right" Auswnrzelnng "etc.
V. 5: Woe to those who live by the sea (funiculum maris), the warriors.
This is a Hebrew way of speaking, because "the cord" (funiculus) means dividing and measuring, as can be seen in Joshua [Cap. 17, 5. 19, 9J, where he writes that with twelve cords the land was divided. And Moses says [Deut. 32, 9]: "Jacob is the cord of the Lord." Therefore "the cord" is a part or the allotted part. So here he calls the Philistines the cord of the sea, that is, those who were situated on the shore of the sea. For they dwelt on the midland sea; hence the port of Joppa is still famous today.
The warriors (gens perditorum).
This is again a Hebrew way of speaking; that is, the people who are to be corrupted or exterminated. Those speak foolishly who say that by this the Cretans are designated.
The word of the Lord will come upon you. Du Canaan.
On this side of the Jordan were the Cananites. There also dwelt the Philistines, whom he here threatens with destruction and so great an annihilation that there would be none to inhabit their land.
V. 6. There shall be shepherds' houses and flocks of sheep down by the sea.
It is the same word that was translated above in Joel [Cap. 1, 19.] and Amos [Cap. 1, 2.]: "the meadows in the desert" (speciosa deserti), of which we said there that it had an appellative meaning. Therefore it is more correctly translated: the dwellings in the desert. Hence the opinion is: The people of the Philistines have hitherto always been invincible 1), they could never be conquered by the Jews, they rather resisted them most fiercely; but now their end is imminent, they will be so disturbed that no inhabitants will remain of them; everything will become desolate. For never after the Babylonian captivity have they been restored, nor the rest of the neighboring nations. For they are so wonderful
1) Wittenberger: injustn instead of: invietu.
scattered and plagued in many ways that they never returned to their place.
Now they are called by the common name Arabs, a kind of people brought together from all these nations, but who have lost their former names. And these most noble cities of the Philistines are so completely destroyed and razed to the ground that they could never be rebuilt. There are only remains of ruins to be seen, like heaps of stones, as Jerome often remembers him who saw them. After that now follows this:
V. 7 And the same shall be given unto the remnant of the house of Judah, that they may feed thereon. In the evening they shall lie down in the houses of Ascalon.
That is, everywhere will be only sheep hurdles. So great will be the disturbance of the Philistines that when the Jews return from Babylon, they will not find even a semblance of their former strength, power and splendor. They will only find hurdles into which they can bring their sheep from pasture in the evening.
Now when the Lord their God has afflicted them again.
That is, they will return from captivity one day, the Lord will redeem them, the captivity will not last forever. So the prophets everywhere are careful not to reject the people of Judah completely, as if they should never be restored. For as much as they emphasize the captivity and the future [calamity] 2) against it, they have always fixed their eyes firmly on the future kingdom of Christ, which they knew would come forth from this people, as the promises read, and as we have said above several times in many words; therefore, if not all, yet a few had to be preserved. Thus, according to God's counsel, many were brought back from Babylon to the land, and Jechaniah was preserved in prison by God's miraculous counsel, since-
2) Added by us. In the Wittenberg missing: 6t kuturnrn.
1632 8. XXVII, 318-320. interpretation of Zephaniah (1.), cap. 2, 7-11. W. VI, 3254-3257. 16ZZ33
so that the lamp [Pf. 132, 17] of the house of Jacob would not be extinguished, as the promise [1 Kings 2, 4. 2 Sam. 7, 11. ff. 16.] reads.
V. 8. I have heard the reproach of Moab and the blasphemy of the children of Ammon.
Now the prophet turns his face toward the morning and threatens the Moabites and Ammonites with destruction, as well as the Moors, as follows [v. 12]. It is well known that these two nations have always been very hostile to the Jews. They always persecuted the Jews with the bitterest hatred wherever they could, they always sat down against them and harmed them. Then they wished for happiness and rejoiced when something bad happened to God's people, they mocked the wretched when they were led away into captivity, they shouted to their enemies that they should exterminate them, that they should kill them all, as can be seen from the Psalm: "Lord, remember the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who say, Clean off, clean off, even to their ground." And as Jeremiah says [Klaglieder 2, 15.], "Is this the holy city?" etc., that is, this is indeed the land of Judea, the people of God, to whom up to now uiemand could be incumbent; now, of course, it is about the same. Thus he says here completely the same, what above Amos also said.
And on the same borders have boasted.
That is, they have boasted with full cheeks, with great words; they thought it was done for my people. But they shall not escape, they shall perish utterly. Only hold out my hand, do not despair.
V. 9. 2) Moab shall become like Sodom.
It is true that it did not perish in quite the same way as Sodom, and became quite like it, but so almost in all the prophets the fall of Sodom is taken as an example, as, in Jeremiah [Cap. 23, 14.]: "They have become like Sodom and Gomorrah." And Isaiah says [Cap. 1, 9.]: "If the Lord had not left us a little, we would be
1) Wittenberger: vaviä.
2) This verse number is missing in Weimar's.
like Sodom and equal to Gomorrah." It is therefore the opinion of the prophet: The destruction of the Moabites will be so great that nothing will remain unharmed to them. Everything will be destroyed, "that they may bring nothing at all of it." For all these neighboring nations are so scattered and destroyed by the Romans, Persians etc., that they have not even kept the old name, as I said just before; all are merged into One People.
Yes, like a nettle bush and salt pit.
Meaning. Places or sites that are salty, as it says in another place [Ps. 107, 34.]: Who turns the fertile land into a salty one. In short, the Lord will make everything a barren land, so that nothing but nettles and thorns will grow in the land; the ground will be barren.
And the rest of my people shall rob them.
Namely, those who will return from the Babylonian captivity. For they will be made so completely nothing that those who were the strongest nations until now will be swept away by the few remaining of my people, whereas before the whole nation was never able to conquer them completely. But they did not take the whole empire from them, but here and there some cities. For also the Persians, the Egyptians and the Romans have torn away from it. That is why Jerome is torturing himself extraordinarily at this point, as is his way etc.
V. 11.3) let all the islands of the Gentiles worship, each in its own place.
That is, after the return from the Babylonian captivity, the Lord will make the temple in Jerusalem more famous than it was in the time of Solomon, when several kings offered gifts, but the worship of God and the service of God never became so well known, never spread to other nations as it did when they returned from Babylon, as Lucas also indicates in the Acts of the Apostles, when he says [Cap.2, 5.]: "Now there were Jews
3) This verse number is missing in Weimar's.
dwelling at Jerusalem, out of all the people which are under heaven". For this was, as it were, a prelude to the future kingdom of Christ, which was not to be spread among the Jews, but into the whole world, among all nations. For afterwards, through the apostles, this kingdom was confirmed and spread, which at that time shone almost everywhere, even among the Gentiles. And therefore Christ caused that everywhere in the world God was worshipped, not only in Jerusalem, but among all nations. This is what the prophet says here about the service of God being spread also among all the Gentiles: The isles among the Gentiles will worship him, that is, they will bring their gifts to the temple in Jerusalem, the Gentiles will also testify that this is the service of the true God etc.
V. 12. Also, you Moors shall be slain by my sword.
Namely by the sword which the Babylonian king will wield. Now the prophet has turned against noon and also threatens the destruction of the Moors, so that he seems to want completely the same or to preach in the same order or manner as Jeremiah, since he was commanded by the Lord that he should pour out of the cup full of wrath from the Lord to all nations [Jer. 25, 15], as if Jeremiah wanted to say: If the Lord does not spare the people of Israel, which he has chosen for himself, he will spare much less of the other neighboring nations, which are not of the people of God. The prophet Zephaniah does the same here. For he subjects all the Gentiles to the wrath of God and to captivity, so that they will not think that only the people of God deserve captivity. But still the Lord begins first with His own, as Peter says 1 Petr. 4, 17: "For it is time that judgment should begin on the house of God. But so first on us, what end will it come to those who do not believe the gospel of God?" For first, after the word of God is sent forth, he crucifies his martyrs and preachers of the word, and causes his people to suffer much; then, when the godly have been afflicted for a little while
If they are not, the terrible wrath of God and the punishment against the enemies of the Word and the people of God will come immediately, which we also experience today.
V. 13. 1) He will make Nineveh desolate, arid like a desert (Et ponet speciosam in solitudinem).
Of this word I have also said above [Jonah Cap. 4, § 19], namely that it means in appellative meaning "the beautiful one" (speciosa). But here it is a proper name and not an appellative, therefore instead of speciosam is to be translated: "Nineveh". Then there is great confusion in what follows. But I read according to the Hebrew thus: and the multitude of the ships like a desert. The Hebrew word also means impassable or without water. But how can the impassable become a desert, since it is this already before? Therefore, this inconsistency moves me to translate in this way. Therefore the opinion is: I want to make Nineveh desolate, and where the quantity of the ships is, that is, the sea cities which are at the rivers or near the sea, which are famous by her trade, I want to make to nothing.
V. 14: That all kinds of beasts among the Gentiles will be encamped inside.
Animals of every kind of this people, that is, of this region, of which I speak now; not of all heathens, as our Latin interpreter translates. As if he wanted to say: After the people are killed and the cities devastated, these places will be nothing but pastures for animals of every kind, both tame and wild, after all inhabitants are gone. In fact, everything will become a wasteland.
Bitterns and hedgehogs will also live on their towers.
Up to the today's day is disputed among the Hebrew grammarians about the words which signify things, as also great people have disputed about this. Because now the Hebrew language has fallen to a large extent, so that over many words nothing certain can be determined, we follow
1) This verse number is missing in Weimar's.
this uncertain light, since we cannot find something else that would be better. But Onocrotalus ["Bittern"] is a well-known bird in the Latin language. It sticks its beak into the water and makes a strong sound. He is not tamed, and people have no use for him etc.
And will sing in the windows (vox cantantis).
If I were allowed, I would also say here that there is a particular name of a bird, where our interpreter translates: cantantis [of the singing], and I would translate it by crow or by a word that denotes another bird that makes bright sounds. But because I have no other example, I dare not assert it. According to the derivation of the word, it is translated correctly when it is given by cantantis, but there are many such words in this language, which, although they seem to be generic names, are nevertheless proper names. Thus I could also have given beforehand the word which the interpreter translated by onocrotalus by eater, for the derivation of the word would allow this. For Pliny writes of the bittern, 1) that it gathers many things into its gullet, where, as he says, a special kind of head is located. After the devoured is gradually ruminated, she brings it into the stomach etc. But if one reads it appellatively with the Latin interpreter, this will be the opinion, as if he wanted to say: Quite certainly the night owls and other wild birds will howl there in the windows, while before there young boys and girls used to sing etc.
1) The Wittenberger continues: The bitterns have similarity with the swans, and one would not think that there would be a difference between the two, if they did not have a special kind of gullet in the gullet. The insatiable animal gobbles everything into it, so that there is an extraordinary space for the grimace. Soon after the predation is completed, the food is gradually brought back into the beak, and the bird brings it into the right stomach in the manner of your ruminant. But etc.
This whole passage should have been understood rather from Babylon than from Nineveh, since Nineveh was already devastated and the kingdom was brought to the Babylonians. Therefore I hold thus: that the kingdom of the Chaldeans and the Assyrians had been almost one kingdom, and that only one area had been, but that there had been different kings, who also lived in different places, as each one liked, as also different kings of Israel stayed in different cities, as the holy histories indicate. Therefore he calls here the kingdom, which was already transferred to the Babylonia), - this kingdom, I say, he calls by the old name Nineveh, which was the largest and most distinguished city of this kingdom, or the capital of the kingdom. Such change of the names has the Scripture also often with kings rc. 3)
V. 15. This is the joyful city (civitas gloriosa).
The prophet mocks them by punishing the pride and arrogance or presumption of the kingdom, as if to say: Is this then the city of Nineveh in the most powerful kingdom, which boasted so highly of its power and troops, wealth 2c? For this is the meaning of the Hebrew word, which the interpreter translated by gloriosa, as we call a glorious man of war (gloriosum militem), - not the one who has fame, whom people admire because of his bravery, - but the one who boasts himself etc. As then the prophet also adds here: "It is I, and none more."
How has it become so desolate that the animals live inside!
That is, how deserted it has become, made into a wasteland! Having been the seat of the king before, it has now become the camp of cattle and beasts of prey.
2) Incorrect both in the manuscript and in the Wittenberg edition: aä Xss^rios. The old translator has corrected this error.
3) This last sentence is missing in the Wittenberg.