What makes this terminology striking is that more commonly, the prophets depicted the nations as making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 66:23). But here Zephaniah speaks of the worship of the true God as occurring in the various nations.
Yet he was not the first to suggest this perspective on the worship of the Lord by the nations. Isaiah earlier had described a day when there would be “an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt" (Isaiah 19:19, Isaiah 19:21). And the Egyptians would pass through Israel to worship Yahweh in Assyria (Isaiah 19:23). Following Zephaniah, Malachi spoke of the coming Day when from the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord would be great, and incense and pure offerings would be consecrated to the Lord in every place. (Malachi 1:11).1
This prophecy finds significant fulfillment in the coming of Christ, who himself gave this worship perspective (John 4:13–23). Wherever the Holy Spirit and the truth were found, people would worship the living God.
11 The LORD will be awesome against them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth, and to him shall bow down, each in its place, all the lands of the nations.