III. The day of Yahweh's blessing 3:9-20

Having finished the revelation dealing with God's judgment of the world in a coming day (1:2-3:8), Zephaniah now announced that He would bring great blessing to all humankind after that judgment (3:9-20). As in the section of the book on judgment, he revealed God's plans for the Gentile nations briefly first and then spoke extensively about His plans for Israel.

 A. The purification of the nations 3:9

"Then"signals a major change in time as well as in the focus of Zephaniah's prophecy. It is a hinge word that serves as a transition from judgment in the Tribulation to blessing in the Millennium. Then, after these judgments (1:2-3:8), the Lord promised to give the peoples of the world lips that would speak truth and grace rather than lies and defiled speech (cf. Isa. 6:5-7).

"Lip does not stand for language, but is mentioned as the organ of speech, by which a man expresses the thoughts of his heart, so that purity of the lips involves or presupposes the purification of the heart."²⁶

Yahweh would affect this change in all the people of the world so they would worship Him (cf. Gen. 4:26) and serve Him as one united family of nations. This indicates that everyone living on the earth at the beginning of the Millennium will be a believer in Jesus Christ (cf. Matt. 25:31-46).

 B. The transformation of Israel 3:10-20

Zephaniah had received from the Lord much more revelation about what He would do for Israel following the period of worldwide punishment. This section is also chiastic in its thought structure.

AIsrael's purification 3:10-13

BIsrael's and Yahweh's rejoicing 3:14-17

A'Israel's regathering 3:18-20