Therefore wait ye vpon me, saith the Lord, vntill the day that I rise vp to the praye: for I am determined to gather the nations, and that I will assemble the kingdomes to powre vpon them mine indignation, euen all my fierce wrath: for all the earth shall be deuoured with the fire of my ielousie.
Zephaniah 3:6 I haue cut off the nations: their towres are desolate: I haue made their streetes waste, that none shall passe by: their cities are destroyed without man and without inhabitant.
Zephaniah 3:7 I said, Surely thou wilt feare me: thou wilt receiue instruction: so their dwelling shoulde not be destroyed howsoeuer I visited them, but they rose earely and corrupted all their workes.
Zephaniah 3:8 Therefore wait ye vpon me, saith the Lord, vntill the day that I rise vp to the praye: for I am determined to gather the nations, and that I will assemble the kingdomes to powre vpon them mine indignation, euen all my fierce wrath: for all the earth shall be deuoured with the fire of my ielousie.
Zephaniah 3:9 Surely then will I turne to the people a pure language, that they may all call vpon the Name of the Lord, to serue him with one cosent.
Zephaniah 3:10 From beyonde the riuers of Ethiopia, the daughter of my dispersed, praying vnto me, shall bring me an offering.
The verse centers on "therefore", "wait", "vpon", "saith", "lord", "vntill", "rise", and "praye". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "wait", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 7's "I said Surely thou wilt feare me..." into verse 9's "Surely then will I turne to the...", so "therefore" and "wait" 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 "therefore" and "wait" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.