Albert Barnes Commentary Zephaniah 3:8

"Therefore wait ye for me, saith Jehovah, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." — Zephaniah 3:8 (ASV)

Therefore wait you upon Me (the "upon Me" signifying "for Me"): God so wills not to punish, but rather that all should lay hold of His mercy, that He does not even name punishment here. Judah had slighted His mercies; He was ready to forgive all they had sinned, if they would "now" receive instruction; they in return set themselves to corrupt "all" their doings. They had wholly forsaken Him. "Therefore"—we should have expected, as elsewhere, "Therefore I will visit all your iniquities upon you." But not so. The chastisement is all veiled; the prophet points only to the mercy beyond.

Therefore wait you for Me. All the interval of chastisement is summed up in these words; that is, since neither My mercies toward you, nor My chastisement of others, lead you to obey Me, "therefore" the time will be when My Providence will not seem to be over you, nor My presence among you ; but then, wait you for Me earnestly, intensely, perseveringly, until the day that I rise up to the prey. "The day" is probably in the first instance, the deliverance from Babylon. But the words seem to be purposely enlarged, that they may embrace other judgments of God also.

For the words to gather the nations, assemble the kingdoms, describe some array of nations against God and His people; gathering themselves for their own end at that time, but, in His purpose, gathering themselves for their own destruction, rather than the mere tranquil reunion of those of different nations in the city of Babylon, when the Medes and Persians came against them. Nor again are they altogether fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem, or any other event until now.

For although then a vast number of the dispersed Jews were collected together, and were at that time broken off (Romans 11:20) and out of covenant with God, they could hardly be called "nations" (which are here and before Zephaniah 5:6 spoken of in contrast with Judah), much less "kingdoms." In its fullest sense the prophecy seems to belong to the same events in the last struggle of Anti-Christ, as at the close of Joel (Joel 3:2, Joel 3:9–16) and Zechariah (Zechariah 14).

With this agrees the largeness of the destruction: to pour out upon them, in full measure, emptying out so as to overwhelm them, Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger, for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy (Psalms 79:6; Jeremiah 6:11; Jeremiah 10:25; Jeremiah 14:16; Ezekiel 21:31; Revelation 16:1).

The outpouring of all God’s wrath, the devouring of the whole earth, in the fullest sense of the words, belongs to the end of the world, when He will say to the wicked, Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire.

In lesser degrees, and less fully, the substance of the prophecy has again and again been fulfilled to the Jewish Church before Christ, at Babylon and under the Maccabees; and to the Christian, as when the Muslims hemmed in Christendom on all sides, and the waves of their conquests on the east and west threatened to meet, overwhelming Christendom.

The Church, having sinned, had to "wait" for a while "for God" who by His Providence withdrew Himself, yet at last delivered it.

And since the whole history of the Church lies wrapped up in the Person of the Redeemer, the day that I rise up to the prey, is especially the Day in which the foundation of His Church was laid, or that in which it will be completed; the Day on which He rose again, as the first-fruits, or that Day in which He will stand again on the earth, to judge it; so coming even as He went up into heaven (Acts 1:11).

Then, "the prey" must be what God vouchsafes to count as His gain, "the prey" which is taken from the mighty (Isaiah 49:24–25), and the lawful captivity, the prey of the terrible one, which will be delivered; even that spoil which the Father bestowed on Him Who made His soul an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:10, Isaiah 53:12), the goods of the strong man (Matthew 12:29) whom He bound, and spoiled us, His lawful goods and captives, since we had sold ourselves under sin to him (Romans 7:14; Isaiah 52:3).

Cyril: "Christ lived again having spoiled hell, because it was not possible (as it is written) that He, being by nature Life, should be held by death (Acts 2:24).

Here, where spoken of with relation to the Church, "the jealousy" of Almighty God is that love for His people (see the note at Nahum 1:2), which will not endure their ill-treatment by those who (as all anti-Christian power does) make themselves His rivals in the government of the world.