Texts in Conversation
Zephaniah 3:5 echoes Deuteronomy 32:4 by describing God as righteous and without injustice, drawing on language from the Song of Moses. While Deuteronomy uses this language to contrast divine reliability compared with Israel’s corruption, Zephaniah reuses it to emphasize stability while looking ahead to a hopeful future.
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Deuteronomy 32:4
Hebrew Bible
2 My teaching will drop like the rain, my sayings will drip like the dew, as rain drops upon the grass, and showers upon new growth. 3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; you must acknowledge the greatness of our God. 4 As for the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. He is a reliable God who is never unjust, he is fair and upright. 5 His people have been unfaithful to him; they have not acted like his children—this is their sin. They are a perverse and deceitful generation.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Zephaniah 3:5
Hebrew Bible
4 Her prophets are proud; they are deceitful men. Her priests have defiled what is holy; they have broken God’s laws. 5 The just Lord resides within her; he commits no unjust acts. Every morning he reveals his justice. At dawn he appears without fail. Yet the unjust know no shame. 6 “I destroyed nations; their walled cities are in ruins. I turned their streets into ruins; no one passes through them. Their cities are desolate; no one lives there.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In Zephaniah 3 the tone of the comparison is different, being much more positive. The first instance Roberts notes is in 3:5 'Yahweh (is) righteous ... he will not do iniquity'. This evokes the words of Deuteronomy 32:4 ... This is also from the song of Moses, where Moses reminds Israel of God’s character before lamenting over his people’s unfaithfulness ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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