"Silent Because of His Love": A Reinterpretation of God's Silence in Zephaniah 3:17

The image of the silence of God is frequently understood negatively, as absence or abandonment. Divine silence in Old Testament texts, however, has many distinct nuances and can represent merciful presence rather than cruel absence. This article examines the divine silence in Zephaniah 3,17, which demonstrates the positive interpretation of silence as divine mercy. In order to understand this image, we must first turn to a semantic study of the Hebrew verb that expresses silence in this verse: yaharis.