Tag Archives: Zephaniah 1:3

Introduction to Zephaniah 1:3: Cosmic Judgment through Grammatical Emphasis Zephaniah 1:3 belongs to the opening judgment oracle of the book, where YHWH declares a sweeping destruction across all creation—humans, beasts, birds, and fish. The verse uses a striking grammatical structure: a doubled verb form אָסֵף אָסֵף (“I will utterly sweep away”). This use of the infinitive absolute followed by a finite verb is a well-known Biblical Hebrew construction that conveys intensity, certainty, and determination. In this article, we analyze how this form and the following word structure depict universal judgment, with a literary style echoing Genesis and reversing creation.… Learn Hebrew