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Prophecy

“I will give the peoples pure lips” and the revival of spoken Hebrew (Zephaniah 3:9)

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in 1905, a driving force behind the revival of spoken Hebrew: photo of the event to which some readers link this text.
Photo of the event Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in 1905, a driving force behind the revival of spoken Hebrew: photo of the event to which some readers link this text. — Photographers of the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), Wikimedia Commons · Domaine public

● Written before, according to historians

Written 640–609 BC according to tradition; 630–450 BC according to historians. Event: 1881–1922 AD.

See the full entry: sources, objections, answers

In short

The announcement. The prophet Zephaniah, under King Josiah (640-609 BC), announces in the book of Zephaniah that God will give the peoples “pure lips” so that they may all call on him together.

What happened. From 1881, Hebrew, which had had no native speakers since Antiquity, becomes a spoken language again in Palestine, around Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and the schools of the Jewish settlements. In 1922, it becomes one of the three official languages of Palestine under the British Mandate. But the verse speaks of “the peoples”, and the nations have not started speaking Hebrew.

What is still debated. “pure lips” first means speech cleansed of the worship of other gods, and the text says nothing of a language that the Jews would start speaking again.

Why it is striking

Such a return of a language to everyday use is almost unique. The link with Zephaniah 3:9, which promises “pure lips” to “the peoples”, is a connection put forward by some readers, as early as ibn Ezra in the Middle Ages; the verse, however, speaks of the nations.

Main objection (in French for now)

Lecture forcée : le verset parle des « peuples » (ʿammîm), c’est-à-dire des nations, qui invoqueront le nom de l’Éternel ; il ne dit rien d’une langue que les Juifs recommenceraient à parler.

The text (World English Bible)

For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on the LORD’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder. From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, even the daughter of my dispersed people, will bring my offering.

Zeph 3:9-10

Sources