The same Hebrew word can stand for land
(NKJV) and for earth
(ESV) or world
(NIV). So is this all the land of Judah or the entire world? In favour of land
is the fact that the immediate context is concerned with Judah. But some explainers suggest that the prophecy here points beyond the immediate historical context of Judah’s defeat and the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, and to a universal perspective. That is, this verse makes use of a recognized technique
of bringing a section to a close by reverting at the end to words or a theme found at the beginning, namely, the reality of a universal judgment (Zephaniah 1:2–3).1
This latter interpretation is consistent with the general understanding among scholars that the prophecy, with its theme of the day of the Lord, is not focusing on a specific time period. Zephaniah, in distinction from other prophets, is preoccupied with the ultimate day. "His thinking is insistently universal (Zephaniah 1:17a, Zephaniah 1:18b; Zephaniah 2:11; Zephaniah 3:6, Zephaniah 3:8b, Zephaniah 3:9, Zephaniah 3:20). He seems uninterested in identifying specific historical events…. Zephaniah, whether under historical or theological prompting, has left us a tract on the day of the Lord—the climax alike of history, sin, and the purposes of God.”2 Thus, it would appear his reference to all the earth
is indeed universalistic in character.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.