[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Esaias

Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame. I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
(Zephaniah 3:1-9)

Seems the "turning to the people a pure language" is timed AFTER a gathering of the nations to receive the fiery judgment of God. This is a common theme in prophecy, that God would gather the nations together and punish them for their iniquity and their persecution of His saints. The prophet tells the reader to "wait... until the day" of this gathering of the nations for judgment. And then God will "turn to the people a pure language". So it seems this event is to come AFTER the prophesied judgment upon all the nations, which as far as I can tell did not occur before the first Pentecost under the new covenant (Acts 2).

Perhaps you have a different take on the passage in Zephaniah? If so , please exegete.

Check this out:

The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do. In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it. And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it. In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction. In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them. And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it. And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them. In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
(Isaiah 19:13-25)

Especially, note the reference to how the Egyptians shall "speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord". this seems an obvious parallel to the Zephaniah passage - God would bring punitive judgment upon Egypt, but the end result would be that Egypt would "speak the language of Canaan and swear unto the Lord" and be counted among His people. In other words, the themes are almost identical:

• Divine judgment upon the heathen
• Change of language
• Worship of God

To "speak the language of Canaan", in Isaiah's day, seems to refer to speaking Hebrew. (Nevermind the fact that the Canaanites and the Israelites pretty much spoke the same language anyway.) And this appears to be a euphemism for the heathen learning the ways of Israel and her God. IE a conversion. So in Zephaniah it seems to be that the "pure language" is a euphemism for Hebrew, itself being a euphemism for the proper and true worship of God. So that, a "pure language" refers not so much to any actual linguistics (whether tongues of men or of angels) but to the true and correct worship of God.

(Note, I am not saying that glossolalia is not involved here at all, but rather that the contexts seem to suggest something beyond mere Pentecostal manifestations, and in Zephaniah seems to refer to the final conversion of the nations after a Divine Judgment upon them, which as far as I know has not yet happened.)