What is the significance of the divine speaker now saying, “I said”?
Zephaniah 3:7 (ESV)
7I said, ‘Surely you will fear me; you will accept correction. Then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you.’ But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt.
In the middle of his direct address (Zephaniah 3:6–8), the Lord says, I said. This effectively brings us right into the divine mind and heart,1 as he expresses how inexcusable the nation really is in despising all his warnings.2
7 I said, ‘Surely you will fear me; you will accept correction. Then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you.’ But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt.