The point of the statement is unclear. A ritual associated with the Philistine god Dagon may be in view, where the priests of Dagon did not tread on the threshold of the house of Dagon (see 1 Samuel 5:5). The pagans believed that evil spirits resided at the threshold, waiting for someone to step on it and let them slip in.
1
Thus, Judah’s practice would have been prompted by pagan worship. So what Zephaniah now does is replace the pagan do not step on the threshold
from 1 Samuel 5:5 “with a deliberately trivializing word [leaps
] in order to caricature the antics introduced into the Lord’s worship.’2
Calvin, however, believes it too far-fetched
that this is a reference to the superstitious practice among the Philistines. He prefers to interpret the clause as referring to the plundering of the houses of other people.3 All told, we cannot be completely definitive on the meaning of the statement.
9 On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold, and those who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud.