Zephaniah 2:12 (DRB)

Passage

You Ethiopians, also shall be slain with my sword.

Nearby Context

Zephaniah 2:10 This shall befall them for their pride: because they have blasphemed, and have been magnified against the people of the Lord of hosts.

Zephaniah 2:11 The Lord shall be terrible upon them, and shall consume all the gods of the earth: and they shall adore him every man from his own place, all the islands of the Gentiles.

Zephaniah 2:12 You Ethiopians, also shall be slain with my sword.

Zephaniah 2:13 And he will stretch out his hand upon the north, and will destroy Assyria: and he will make the beautiful city a wilderness, and as a place not passable, and as a desert.

Zephaniah 2:14 And flocks shall lie down in the midst thereof, all the beasts of the nations: and the bittern and the urchin shall lodge in the threshold thereof: the voice of the singing bird in the window, the raven on the upper post, for I will consume her strength.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "ethiopians", "shall", "slain", and "sword". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "ethiopians" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "The Lord shall be terrible upon them..." into verse 13's "And he will stretch out his hand...", so "ethiopians" and "shall" belong inside that flow. In Zephaniah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "ethiopians" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.