1:4 “I will attack 1 Judah
and all who live in Jerusalem. 2
I will remove 3 from this place every trace of Baal worship, 4
as well as the very memory 5 of the pagan priests. 6
1:5 I will remove 7 those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, 8
those who swear allegiance to the Lord 9 while taking oaths in the name of 10 their ‘king,’ 11
1:6 and those who turn their backs on 12 the Lord
and do not want the Lord’s help or guidance.” 13
1:7 Be silent before the Lord God, 14
for the Lord’s day of judgment 15 is almost here. 16
The Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal; 17
he has ritually purified 18 his guests.
1:8 “On the day of the Lord’s sacrificial meal,
I will punish the princes 19 and the king’s sons,
and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. 20
1:9 On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, 21
who fill the house of their master 22 with wealth taken by violence and deceit. 23
1:10 On that day,” says the Lord,
“a loud cry will go up 24 from the Fish Gate, 25
wailing from the city’s newer district, 26
and a loud crash 27 from the hills.
1:11 Wail, you who live in the market district, 28
for all the merchants 29 will disappear 30
and those who count money 31 will be removed. 32
1:12 At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps.
I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, 33
those who think to themselves, 34
‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ 35
1:13 Their wealth will be stolen
and their houses ruined!
They will not live in the houses they have built,
nor will they drink the wine from the vineyards they have planted.
1:14 The Lord’s great day of judgment 36 is almost here;
it is approaching very rapidly!
There will be a bitter sound on the Lord’s day of judgment;
at that time warriors will cry out in battle. 37
1:15 That day will be a day of God’s anger, 38
a day of distress and hardship,
a day of devastation and ruin,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and dark skies,
1:16 a day of trumpet blasts 39 and battle cries. 40
Judgment will fall on 41 the fortified cities and the high corner towers.
1:17 I will bring distress on the people 42
and they will stumble 43 like blind men,
for they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dirt;
their flesh 44 will be scattered 45 like manure.
1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them
in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.
The whole earth 46 will be consumed by his fiery wrath. 47
Indeed, 48 he will bring terrifying destruction 49 on all who live on the earth.” 50
2:1 Bunch yourselves together like straw, 51 you undesirable 52 nation,
2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality 53 and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, 54
before the Lord’s raging anger 55 overtakes 56 you –
before the day of the Lord’s angry judgment overtakes you!
2:3 Seek the Lord’s favor, 57 all you humble people 58 of the land who have obeyed his commands! 59
Strive to do what is right! 60 Strive to be humble! 61
Maybe you will be protected 62 on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.
1 tn Heb “I will stretch out my hand against,” is an idiom for hostile action.
2 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
3 tn Heb “cut off.”
4 tn Heb “the remnant of Baal.”
5 tn Heb “name.” Here the “name” is figurative for the memory of those who bear it.
6 tc Heb “of the pagan priests and priests.” The first word (כְּמָרִים, kÿmarim) refers to idolatrous priests in its two other appearances in the OT (2 Kgs 23:5, Hos 10:5), while the second word (כֹּהֲנִים, kohanim) is the normal term for “priest” and is used of both legitimate and illegitimate priests in the OT. It is likely that the second term, which is omitted in the LXX, is a later scribal addition to the Hebrew text, defining the extremely rare word that precedes (see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 167-68; cf. also NEB, NRSV). Some argue that both words are original; among the modern English versions that include both are NASB and NIV. Possibly the first word refers to outright pagan priests, while the second has in view once-legitimate priests of the Lord who had drifted into idolatrous practices. Another option is found in Adele Berlin, who translates, “the idolatrous priests among the priests,” understanding the second word as giving the general category of which the idolatrous priests are a part (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 75).
7 tn The words “I will remove” are repeated from v. 4b for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 4b-6 contain a long list of objects for the verb “I will remove” in v. 4b. In the present translation a new sentence was begun at the beginning of v. 5 in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences.
8 tn Heb “those who worship on their roofs the host of heaven.” The “host of heaven” included the sun, moon, planets, and stars, all of which were deified in the ancient Near East.
9 tc The MT reads, “those who worship, those who swear allegiance to the
10 tn Heb “those who swear by.”
11 tn The referent of “their king” is unclear. It may refer sarcastically to a pagan god (perhaps Baal) worshiped by the people. Some English versions (cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV) prefer to emend the text to “Milcom,” the name of an Ammonite god (following some LXX
12 tn Heb “turn back from [following] after.”
13 tn Heb “who do not seek the
14 tn Heb “Lord
15 tn Heb “the day of the
16 tn Or “near.”
17 tn Heb “a sacrifice.” This same word also occurs in the following verse.
18 tn Or “consecrated” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
19 tn Or “officials” (NRSV, TEV); NLT “leaders.”
20 sn The very dress of the royal court, foreign styles of clothing, revealed the degree to which Judah had assimilated foreign customs.
21 sn The point of the statement all who hop over the threshold is unclear. A ritual or superstition associated with the Philistine god Dagon may be in view (see 1 Sam 5:5).
22 tn The referent of “their master” is unclear. The king or a pagan god may be in view.
23 tn Heb “who fill…with violence and deceit.” The expression “violence and deceit” refers metonymically to the wealth taken by oppressive measures.
24 tn The words “will go up” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
25 sn The Fish Gate was located on Jerusalem’s north side (cf. 2 Chr 33:14; Neh 3:3; 12:39).
26 tn Heb “from the second area.” This may refer to an area northwest of the temple where the rich lived (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 86; cf. NASB, NRSV “the Second Quarter”; NIV “the New Quarter”).
27 tn Heb “great breaking.”
28 tn Heb “in the Mortar.” The Hebrew term מַכְתֵּשׁ (makhtesh, “mortar”) is apparently here the name of a low-lying area where economic activity took place.
29 tn Or perhaps “Canaanites.” Cf. BDB 489 s.v. I and II כְּנַעֲנִי. Translators have rendered the term either as “the merchant people” (KJV, NKJV), “the traders” (NRSV), “merchants” (NEB, NIV), or, alternatively, “the people of Canaan” (NASB).
30 tn Or “be destroyed.”
31 tn Heb “weigh out silver.”
32 tn Heb “be cut off.” In the Hebrew text of v. 11b the perfect verbal forms emphasize the certainty of the judgment, speaking of it as if it were already accomplished.
33 tn Heb “who thicken on their sediment.” The imagery comes from wine making, where the wine, if allowed to remain on the sediment too long, will thicken into syrup. The image suggests that the people described here were complacent in their sinful behavior and interpreted the delay in judgment as divine apathy.
34 tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”
35 tn Heb “The
36 tn Heb “The great day of the
37 tn Heb “the sound of the day of the
38 tn Heb “a day of wrath.” The word “God’s” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
39 tn Heb “a ram’s horn.” By metonymy the Hebrew text mentions the trumpet (“ram’s horn”) in place of the sound it produces (“trumpet blasts”).
40 sn This description of the day of the
41 tn Heb “against.” The words “judgment will fall” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
42 tn “The people” refers to mankind in general (see vv. 2-3) or more specifically to the residents of Judah (see vv. 4-13).
43 tn Heb “walk.”
44 tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).
45 tn The words “will be scattered” are supplied in the translation for clarity based on the parallelism with “will be poured out” in the previous line.
46 tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.
47 tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”
48 tn Or “for.”
49 tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”
50 tn It is not certain where the
51 tn The Hebrew text combines a Hitpolel imperative of קָשַׁשׁ (qashash) with a Qal imperative of the same root. Elsewhere this root appears in the polel stem with the meaning “gather stubble.” Zephaniah’s command is ironic, implying the people are like stubble or straw. As such, they are vulnerable to the Lord’s fiery judgment that will quickly consume them (see 1:18). See Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 96.
52 tn Some relate this word to an Aramaic cognate meaning “to be ashamed.” With the negative particle it would then mean “unashamed” (cf. NIV “shameful”; NRSV “shameless”). However, elsewhere in biblical Hebrew the verb means “to desire,” or with the negative particle “undesirable.” Cf. also NEB “unruly.”
53 tn Heb “before the giving birth of a decree.” For various alternative readings, see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 187-88.
54 tn The second half of the line reads literally, “like chaff it passes by a day.” The translation above assumes the “day” is the brief time God is giving the nation to repent. The comparison of this quickly passing opportunity to chaff is consistent with the straw imagery of v. 1.
55 tn Heb “the fury of the anger of the
56 tn Heb “comes upon.” This phrase occurs twice in this verse.
57 tn Heb “seek the
58 tn Or “poor.” The precise referent of this Hebrew term is unclear. The word may refer to the economically poor or to the spiritually humble.
59 tn The present translation assumes the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here refers to God’s covenantal requirements and is a synonym for the Law. The word can mean “justice” and could refer more specifically to the principles of justice contained in the Law. In this case the phrase could be translated, “who have promoted the justice God demands.”
60 tn Heb “Seek what is right.”
61 tn Heb “Seek humility.”
62 tn Heb “hidden.” Cf. NEB “it may be that you will find shelter”; NRSV “perhaps you may be hidden.”