2:8 “I have heard Moab’s taunts
and the Ammonites’ insults.
They 1 taunted my people
and verbally harassed those living in Judah. 2
2:9 Therefore, as surely as I live,” says the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel,
“be certain that Moab will become like Sodom
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.
They will be overrun by weeds, 3
filled with salt pits, 4
and permanently desolate.
Those of my people who are left 5 will plunder their belongings; 6
those who are left in Judah 7 will take possession of their land.”
2:10 This is how they will be repaid for their arrogance, 8
for they taunted and verbally harassed 9 the people of the Lord who commands armies.
2:11 The Lord will terrify them, 10
for 11 he will weaken 12 all the gods of the earth.
All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. 13
2:12 “You 14 Ethiopians 15 will also die by my sword!” 16
2:13 The Lord 17 will attack the north 18
and destroy Assyria.
He will make Nineveh a heap of ruins;
it will be as barren 19 as the desert.
2:14 Flocks and herds 20 will lie down in the middle of it,
as well as every kind of wild animal. 21
Owls 22 will sleep in the tops of its support pillars;
they will hoot through the windows. 23
Rubble will cover the thresholds; 24
even the cedar work 25 will be exposed to the elements. 26
2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up 27 –
the city that was so secure. 28
She thought to herself, 29 “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” 30
What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live!
Everyone who passes by her taunts her 31 and shakes his fist. 32
1 tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Heb “and they made great [their mouth?] against their territory.” Other possible translation options include (1) “they enlarged their own territory” (cf. NEB) and (2) “they bragged about [the size] of their own territory.”
3 tn The Hebrew text reads מִמְשַׁק חָרוּל (mimshaq kharul, “[?] of weeds”). The meaning of the first word is unknown. The present translation (“They will be overrun by weeds”) is speculative, based on the general sense of the context. For a defense of “overrun” on linguistic grounds, see R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 347. Cf. NEB “a pile of weeds”; NIV “a place of weeds”; NRSV “a land possessed by nettles.”
4 tn The Hebrew text reads וּמִכְרֵה־מֶלַח (umikhreh-melakh, “and a [?] of salt”). The meaning of the first word is unclear, though “pit” (NASB, NIV, NRSV; NKJV “saltpit”), “mine,” and “heap” (cf. NEB “a rotting heap of saltwort”) are all options. The words “filled with” are supplied for clarification.
5 tn Or “The remnant of my people.”
6 tn Heb “them.” The actual object of the plundering, “their belongings,” has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “[the] nation.” For clarity the “nation” has been specified as “Judah” in the translation.
8 tn Heb “this is for them in place of their arrogance.”
9 tn Heb “made great [their mouth?] against” (cf. the last phrase of v. 8).
10 tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”
11 tn Or “certainly.”
12 tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”
13 tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”
14 sn Though there is no formal introduction, these words are apparently spoken by the
15 tn Heb “Cushites.” This is traditionally assumed to refer to people from the region south of Egypt, i.e., Nubia or northern Sudan, referred to as “Ethiopia” by classical authors (not the more recent Abyssinia).
16 tn Heb “Also you Cushites, who lie dead by my sword.”
17 tn Heb “He”; the referent (the
18 tn Heb “he will stretch out his hand against the north.”
19 tn Or “dry.”
20 tn Heb “flocks.” The Hebrew word can refer to both flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.
21 tn Heb “[and] all the wild animals of a nation.” How גוֹי (goy, “nation”) relates to what precedes is unclear. It may be a corruption of another word. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 193.
22 tn The Hebrew text reads here גַּם־קָאַת גַּם־קִפֹּד (gam-qa’at gam-qippod). The term קָאַת refers to some type of bird (see Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (Isa 34:11); one of the most common translations is “owl” (cf. NEB “horned owl”; NIV, NRSV “desert owl”; contra NASB “pelican”). The term קִפֹּד may also refer to a type of bird (cf. NEB “ruffed bustard”; NIV, NRSV “screech owl”). Some suggest a rodent may be in view (cf. NASB “hedgehog”); this is not unreasonable, for a rodent or some other small animal would be able to sleep in the tops of pillars which would be lying in the ruins of the fallen buildings.
23 tn Heb “a sound will sing in the window.” If some type of owl is in view, “hoot” is a more appropriate translation (cf. NEB, NRSV).
24 tn Heb “rubble [will be] on the threshold.” “Rubble” translates the Hebrew word חֹרֶב (khorev, “desolation”). Some emend to עֹרֵב (’orev, “raven”) following the LXX and Vulgate; Adele Berlin translates, “A voice shall shriek from the window – a raven at the sill” (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 104).
25 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “cedar work” (so NASB, NRSV) is unclear; NIV has “the beams of cedar.”
26 tn Heb “one will expose.” The subject is probably indefinite, though one could translate, “for he [i.e., God] will lay bare.”
27 tn Heb “this is the proud city.”
28 tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”
29 tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”
30 tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”
31 tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”
32 sn Hissing (or whistling) and shaking the fist were apparently ways of taunting a defeated foe or an object of derision in the culture of the time.