John Calvin 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)

God here declares that the final end was near, since He had found by experience that He accomplished nothing by long forbearance, and since He had even found the Jews becoming worse because He had so mercifully treated them. Some think that the address is made to the faithful, that they might prepare themselves to bear the cross; but this view is foreign to the Prophet's subject. And though this view has gained the consent of almost all, yet I do not doubt that the Prophet, as I have now stated, breaks out into a complaint and says that God would no longer deal in words with such an irreclaimable people.

Look for me, He says; that is, I am now present, fully prepared. I have until now strived to turn you, but your hearts have become hardened in depravity.

But since I have lost all My labor in teaching, warning, and exhorting you—even when I presented to you examples on every side among heathen nations, which ought to have stimulated you to repentance—and since I have accomplished nothing, it is now all over with you. Look for me: I will no longer contend with you, nor is there any reason for you to hope that I will send Prophets to you again.

Look then for me, until I shall rise—for what purpose? to the prey. Some render the word לעד (laod) as “forever”; but the Prophet means that God was so offended by the stubborn disobedience of the people that He would now plunder, spoil, and devour, and forget His kindness, which had until now been a sport to them.

I will come as a wild beast; as lions rage, lacerate, tear, and devour, so also will I now do with you, for I have until now too kindly and paternally spared you.

Thus, we see that these things are not to be referred to the hope and patience of the godly; but that God, on the contrary, here denounces final destruction on the wicked, as if He had said: “I bid you adieu; begone, and mind your own concerns, for I will no longer contend with you. But I will shortly come, and you will find Me very different from what I have been to you until now.”

We now see that God, as it were, repudiates the Jews and threatens that He would come to them with a drawn sword; and at the same time, He compares Himself to a savage and cruel wild beast.

He afterwards adds: For my judgment is; that is, I have decreed to gather all nations. We have elsewhere spoken of this verb אסף (asaph); it is the same in Hebrew as the French trousser. It is then My purpose to gather, that is, to heap together into one mass all nations, to assemble the kingdoms, so that no corner of the earth may escape My hand.

But He speaks of all nations and kingdoms so that the Jews might understand that His judgment could no longer be deferred. For if a comparison is made between them and the heathen nations, judgment, as it is written, is wont to begin with the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). Furthermore, they were less excusable than the unbelieving, who, not surprisingly, went astray in darkness, for they were without the light of truth.

God then threatens nations and kingdoms so that the Jews might know that a most dreadful punishment was impending over their heads, for they had surpassed all others in wickedness and evil deeds.