cry there bitterly
Zephaniah 1:14
1:14 cry there bitterly. This assertion, “the mighty man shall cry there bitterly,” can (according to some Hebrew scholars) be modified by certain slight changes in the Hebrew text to read: “The mighty man is the Nazarene!” The despised village of Nazareth (John 1:46) was non-existent at the time of Zephaniah, so such a prophecy would have seemed meaningless to the people of his day; thus it is understandable that ancient copyists might have altered it slightly into its present form. If this supposition is correct, then the enigmatic statement of Matthew 2:23 “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene” is clarified (but see note on Matthew 2:23).