For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.
Parallel translations
- WEB For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder.
- KJV For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
- NKJV “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, That they all may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him with one accord.
- NASB “For then I will restore to the peoples pure lips, So that all of them may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him shoulder to shoulder.
- NLT “Then I will purify the speech of all people, so that everyone can worship the Lord together.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God promises to purify the speech of the peoples so they may all call on His name and serve Him together. It matters because it foretells the gathering of the nations into true, united worship.
Overview
After judgment comes a gracious transformation, with cleansed lips signifying renewed and sincere worship. Peoples once divided will serve God 'shoulder to shoulder' in unity. This reverses the scattering of Babel and points forward to the gospel, in which people of every tongue call on the name of the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Gen 11:1Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech.
- Isa 19:18In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of Hosts. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.
- Ps 22:27All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.
- Ps 86:9–10All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.
- Zech 2:11“On that day many nations will join themselves to the LORD, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me to you.
- Acts 2:4–13And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
- Zech 8:20–23This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Peoples will yet come—the residents of many cities—
- Hab 2:14For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
- Eph 4:29Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.
- Matt 12:35The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.
- Rom 15:6–11so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Zech 14:9On that day the LORD will become King over all the earth—the LORD alone, and His name alone.
- Rev 11:15Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”
- 1 Kgs 8:41–43And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—
- Zeph 2:11The LORD will be terrifying to them when He starves all the gods of the earth. Then the nations of every shore will bow in worship to Him, each in its own place.
- Ps 113:3From where the sun rises to where it sets, the name of the LORD is praised.
- Jer 16:19O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The day of the LORD gives way to the promise that God himself will be in the midst of his people, rejoicing over them with singing — fulfilled in the saving presence of Christ.
How Zephaniah 3:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.