Who are “your proudly exultant ones”?

This phrase (in Hebrew, עַלִּיזֵי גַּאֲוָתֵךְ) occurs in only one other place in the Old Testament, Isaiah 13:3, where it is almost exactly the same: my proudly exulting ones (עַלִּיזֵי גַּאֲוָתִי). The connection is strong, and made all the more likely by the fact that Zephaniah has already alluded to Isaiah 13:1–22 in Zephaniah 1:7, with its lines to Isaiah 13:3 and Isaiah 13:6.

Both Isaiah 13 and Zephaniah 3:9–13 present a global expression of the Lord’s power, though in different ways. Isaiah 13, in the nations section of the book of Isaiah (chapters 13—23), presents Babylon in the context of global judgment. Zephaniah 3:9–13, however, presents the opposite: the hope of restoration after judgment to all nations in a reversal of Babel that Zephaniah 3:11–13 interweaves with a removal of the proud and the remaining of the humble.¹ In the midst of that hope of restoration, the phrase your proudly exultant ones occurs, pointing to the party that will be removed on the day of the Lord. Most likely this is a reference to the oppressive leaders of Jerusalem, those who had been arrogant and defiant in their sin (Zephaniah 3:3–4). This is in stark contrast to Isaiah 13:3, where the proudly exultant ones are not the objects but the agents of judgment (most likely Babylon, but it is not clear in 13:3 whether Babylon is the army summoned or the one whom the army is being summoned against). They are the Lord’s instruments of judgment, sent not simply to judge God’s people in Jerusalem but to destroy the whole earth (Isaiah 13:5; see also Isaiah 13:9). This theme of world judgment is what also Zephaniah 3:8, Zephaniah 3:9–13 has in view.² The corrupt leadership of Jerusalem, all those who exalt themselves in pride, will be judged on the day of the Lord, in order for God to create a people humble and lowly (Zephaniah 3:12). On these he will have compassion, a point also raised by Isaiah (Isaiah 14:12).