Zephaniah 2:13

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְיֵ֤ט יָדוֹ֙ עַל־צָפ֔וֹן וִֽיאַבֵּ֖ד אֶת־אַשּׁ֑וּר וְיָשֵׂ֤ם אֶת־נִֽינְוֵה֙ לִשְׁמָמָ֔ה צִיָּ֖ה כַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃

Transliteration

And-yēṭ yādô ʿal-ṣāp̄ôn wîʾabbēd ʾeth-ʾaššûr wəyāśēm ʾeth-nînəwēh lišəmāmâ ṣiyyâ kammidbar

Grammar Details

• *yēṭ*: qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular with waw consecutive - and he will stretch out
• *yādô*: noun, feminine singular with 3rd person masculine singular suffix - his hand
• *ʿal-ṣāp̄ôn*: preposition + noun, feminine singular - against north
• *wîʾabbēd*: piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular with waw consecutive - and he will destroy
• *ʾeth-ʾaššûr*: direct object marker + proper noun - Assyria
• *wəyāśēm*: qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular with waw consecutive - and he will make
• *ʾeth-nînəwēh*: direct object marker + proper noun - Nineveh
• *lišəmāmâ*: preposition + noun, feminine singular - for desolation
• *ṣiyyâ*: noun, feminine singular - dry/parched region
• *kammidbar*: preposition + definite article + noun, masculine singular - like the wilderness

Word Meanings

• *yēṭ yādô*: stretch out his hand/extend his hand
• *ʿal-ṣāp̄ôn*: against the north/against the northern kingdom
• *wîʾabbēd*: and destroy/and cause to perish
• *lišəmāmâ*: for desolation/for waste/for horror
• *ṣiyyâ*: dry land/parched ground/drought

Referenced Verses

• Nah 3:7 : 7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
• Isa 10:12 : 12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
• Isa 10:16 : 16 Therefore will the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory there shall be kindled a burning like the burning of fire.
• Nah 1:1 : 1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
• Nah 2:10-11 : 10 She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale. 11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion [and] the lioness walked, the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
• Ps 83:8-9 : 8 Assyria also is joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot. Selah 9 Do thou unto them as unto Midian, As to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;
• Isa 11:11 : 11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, that shall remain, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
• Ezek 31:3-9 : 3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a forest-like shade, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs. 4 The waters nourished it, the deep made it to grow: the rivers thereof ran round about its plantation; and it sent out its channels unto all the trees of the field. 5 Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it shot [them] forth. 6 All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs; and under its branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young; and under its shadow dwelt all great nations. 7 Thus was it fair in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters. 8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir-trees were not like its boughs, and the plane-trees were not as its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like unto it in its beauty. 9 I made it fair by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it. 10 Therefore thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because thou art exalted in stature, and he hath set his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; 11 I will even deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with him; I have driven him out for his wickedness. 12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him. 13 Upon his ruin all the birds of the heavens shall dwell, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches; 14 to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their top among the thick boughs, nor that their mighty ones stand up on their height, even all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit. 15 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the rivers thereof; and the great waters were stayed; and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. 16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with them that descend into the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the nether parts of the earth. 17 They also went down into Sheol with him unto them that are slain by the sword; yea, they that were his arm, [that] dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the nations. 18 To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord Jehovah.
• Mic 5:6 : 6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our border.
• Nah 3:15 : 15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the canker-worm; make thyself many as the locust.
• Nah 3:18-19 : 18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them. 19 There is no assuaging of thy hurt: thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
• Zech 10:10-11 : 10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and [place] shall not be found for them. 11 And he will pass through the sea of affliction, and will smite the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up; and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart.