1:5 I will remove 1 those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, 2
those who swear allegiance to the Lord 3 while taking oaths in the name of 4 their ‘king,’ 5
1:6 and those who turn their backs on 6 the Lord
and do not want the Lord’s help or guidance.” 7
1:7 Be silent before the Lord God, 8
for the Lord’s day of judgment 9 is almost here. 10
The Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal; 11
he has ritually purified 12 his guests.
1:8 “On the day of the Lord’s sacrificial meal,
I will punish the princes 13 and the king’s sons,
and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. 14
1:9 On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, 15
who fill the house of their master 16 with wealth taken by violence and deceit. 17
1:10 On that day,” says the Lord,
“a loud cry will go up 18 from the Fish Gate, 19
wailing from the city’s newer district, 20
and a loud crash 21 from the hills.
1:11 Wail, you who live in the market district, 22
for all the merchants 23 will disappear 24
and those who count money 25 will be removed. 26
1:12 At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps.
I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, 27
those who think to themselves, 28
‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ 29
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 30 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. 31
1:15 That day will be a day of God’s anger, 32
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 33 and battle cries. 34
Judgment will fall on 35 the fortified cities and the high corner towers.
1:17 I will bring distress on the people 36
and they will stumble 37 like blind men,
for they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dirt;
their flesh 38 will be scattered 39 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 40 will be consumed by his fiery wrath. 41
Indeed, 42 he will bring terrifying destruction 43 on all who live on the earth.” 44
1 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.
2 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.
3 tc The MT reads, “those who worship, those who swear allegiance to the
4 tn Heb “those who swear by.”
5 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
6 tn Heb “turn back from [following] after.”
7 tn Heb “who do not seek the
11 tn Heb “Lord
12 tn Heb “the day of the
13 tn Or “near.”
14 tn Heb “a sacrifice.” This same word also occurs in the following verse.
15 tn Or “consecrated” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
16 tn Or “officials” (NRSV, TEV); NLT “leaders.”
17 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.
26 tn The words “will go up” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
27 sn The Fish Gate was located on Jerusalem’s north side (cf. 2 Chr 33:14; Neh 3:3; 12:39).
28 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”).
29 tn Heb “great breaking.”
31 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.
32 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).
33 tn Or “be destroyed.”
34 tn Heb “weigh out silver.”
35 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.
36 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.
37 tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”
38 tn Heb “The
41 tn Heb “The great day of the
42 tn Heb “the sound of the day of the
46 tn Heb “a day of wrath.” The word “God’s” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
51 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”).
52 sn This description of the day of the
53 tn Heb “against.” The words “judgment will fall” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
56 tn “The people” refers to mankind in general (see vv. 2-3) or more specifically to the residents of Judah (see vv. 4-13).
57 tn Heb “walk.”
58 tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).
59 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.
61 tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.
62 tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”
63 tn Or “for.”
64 tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”
65 tn It is not certain where the