What Does Zephaniah 3:14 Mean?
Ring out, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and leap with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.THE KEY
Joy here is not private feeling: it becomes a shared voice, gathering Zion, Israel, and Jerusalem into one whole-hearted song.
THE MEANING
You are called into joy with your whole heart, and your voice is part of it: singing and shouting sit beside gladness. Zion, Israel, and Jerusalem gather into one addressed people, so joy is both inward and shared.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that joy is only private feeling gives way here: the verse gives it a voice and makes it shared.
THE ROOT
רָנִּי
ranni
GROWS FROM
רנן
r-n-n
To ring out, cry aloud, or sing joyfully.
“ring out” in this verse is ranni. The root carries a ringing cry, not merely melody; the call begins as sound that can gather a people. Zephaniah 3:17 returns to this root in “singing,” turning the summons into a voice that is answered.
ALSO GROWS
rinnah: A joyful song or ringing cry.
רִנָּה
The same root appears in Zephaniah 3:17 for the singing over Jerusalem, echoing the voice summoned here.
ranan: To cry out joyfully or sing aloud.
רָנַן
This branch holds loud expression and song together, showing how gladness takes audible form.
שִׂמְחִי
simchi
GROWS FROM
שמח
ś-m-ḥ
To rejoice or be glad.
“be glad” in this verse is simchi. The feminine singular form addresses “daughter of Jerusalem” as one living figure. The same root appears in Zephaniah 3:17 as simchah, “joy,” so gladness here returns as joy directed toward Jerusalem.
ALSO GROWS
simchah: Joy or gladness.
שִׂמְחָה
This noun from the same root appears in Zephaniah 3:17, where joy is named in God’s rejoicing over Jerusalem.
sameach: Glad or rejoicing.
שָׂמֵחַ
This related form shows that the verse’s imperative belongs to a wider family of words for gladness.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete; this word family carries the sense of wholeness.
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim carries the sh-l-m resonance of shalom, wholeness, within the address. The name’s -ayim ending is dual, while “with all the heart” brings that wholeness inward as well as public.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness or well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
The city-name echoes this word family, meeting the verse’s call for rejoicing with all the heart.
shalem: Whole, complete, or intact.
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes the name’s resonance concrete: the rejoicing addresses Jerusalem as a place named with wholeness.
THE PATTERN
When joy fills a people, it becomes audible in song, shout, and shared praise.
Shout to the LORD, all the earth. Burst open, ring out, and make music.Ring out and shout, you who settle in Zion, for great is the Set-Apart One of Israel within you.Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.THE THREAD
The LORD your God is within you, the mighty one; he will deliver; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will hush in his love; he will exult over you with a ringing cry.The roots behind “sing” and “be glad” return here in rinnah (רִנָּה, rinnah, ringing song) and simchah (שִׂמְחָה, simchah, joy). The call to rejoice is answered by rejoicing and singing over Jerusalem.
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