1. Zephaniah 3:16 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is the meaning of “let not your hands grow weak”?

Zephaniah 3:16 (ESV)

16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.

The hand is a symbol of strength and power. The concept of letting your hands grow weak, slack, or limp refers then to a feeling of powerlessness, where courage has failed, or terror has come, and the will and body are temporarily paralyzed (2 Kings 19:26; 2 Chronicles 15:7; Nehemiah 6:9; Nehemiah 6:9; Isaiah 13:7; Jeremiah 6:24; Jeremiah 6:24). In other texts, hands being limp or gone indicated a loss of power (Deuteronomy 32:36; 2 Samuel 4:1; Isaiah 13:7; Jeremiah 6:24; Jeremiah 50:43; Ezekiel 7:17; Ezekiel 21:12; Ezra 4:4; Nehemiah 6:9; 2 Chronicles 15:7).1

In Zephaniah, the Lord exhorts the believing remnant to action in the day of the Lord. They must emerge from their stupor, confident in the Lord’s sovereignty (Isaiah 35:3–5).