With his message against Assyria, Zephaniah completes the compass. He has spoken of nations to the west (Philistia), east (Moab and Ammon), and south (Cush), and now finishes by speaking of the most dreaded nation, Assyria, the superpower in the area of the north. Technically, Assyria is east of Judah. But because there is a desert between Assyria and Judah, the Assyrians always approached Judah from the north.
13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, and he will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like the desert.