Ezekiel 38:11

38:11 You will say, “I will invade ¹  a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against ²  those living quietly in security – all of them living without walls and barred gates –

Ezekiel 39:6

39:6 I will send fire on Magog and those who live securely in the coastlands; then they will know that I am the Lord.

Jude 1:7

1:7 So also ³  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ⁴  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ⁵  in a way similar to ⁶  these angels, ⁷  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Isaiah 32:9-11

The Lord Will Give True Security

32:9 You complacent ⁸  women,

get up and listen to me!

You carefree ⁹  daughters,

pay attention to what I say!

32:10 In a year’s time ¹⁰ 

you carefree ones will shake with fear,

for the grape ¹¹  harvest will fail,

and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

32:11 Tremble, you complacent ones!

Shake with fear, you carefree ones!

Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves –

put sackcloth on your waist! ¹² 

Isaiah 47:8

47:8 So now, listen to this,

O one who lives so lavishly, ¹³ 

who lives securely,

who says to herself, ¹⁴ 

‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! ¹⁵ 

I will never have to live as a widow;

I will never lose my children.’ ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 49:31

49:31 The Lord says, ¹⁷  “Army of Babylon, ¹⁸  go and attack

a nation that lives in peace and security.

They have no gates or walls to protect them. ¹⁹ 

They live all alone.

Zephaniah 2:15

2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up ²⁰  –

the city that was so secure. ²¹ 

She thought to herself, ²²  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ²³ 

What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live!

Everyone who passes by her taunts her ²⁴  and shakes his fist. ²⁵ 

Zephaniah 2:1

The Prophet Warns the People

2:1 Bunch yourselves together like straw, ²⁶  you undesirable ²⁷  nation,

Zephaniah 1:2

The Lord’s Day of Judgment is Approaching

1:2 “I will destroy ²⁸  everything from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.

[38:11]  ¹ tn Heb “go up against.”

[38:11]  ² tn Heb “come (to).”

[1:7]  ³ tn Grk “as.”

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”

[1:7]  ⁵ tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Or “in the same way as.”

[1:7]  ⁷ tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.

[32:9]  ⁸ tn Or “self-assured”; NASB, NRSV “who are at ease.”

[32:9]  ⁹ tn Or “self-confident”; NAB “overconfident.”

[32:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “days upon a year.”

[32:10]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “olive.” See 24:13.

[32:11]  ¹² tn The imperatival forms in v. 11 are problematic. The first (חִרְדוּ, khirdu, “tremble”) is masculine plural in form, though spoken to a feminine plural addressee (שַׁאֲנַנּוֹת, sha’anannot, “complacent ones”). The four imperatival forms that follow (רְגָזָה, rÿgazah, “shake with fear”; פְּשֹׁטָה, pÿshotah, “strip off your clothes”; עֹרָה, ’orah, “expose yourselves”; and חֲגוֹרָה, khagorah, “put on”) all appear to be lengthened (so-called “emphatic”) masculine singular forms, even though they too appear to be spoken to a feminine plural addressee. GKC 131-32 §48.i suggests emending חִרְדוּ (khirdu) to חֲרָדָה (kharadah) and understanding all five imperatives as feminine plural “aramaized” forms.

[47:8]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps, “voluptuous one” (NAB); NAB “you sensual one”; NLT “You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom.”

[47:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[47:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.” See Zeph 2:15.

[47:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I will not live [as] a widow, and I will not know loss of children.”

[49:31]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:31]  ¹⁸ tn The words “Army of Babylon” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[49:31]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “no gates and no bar,” i.e., “that lives securely without gates or bars.” The phrase is used by the figure of species for genus (synecdoche) to refer to the fact that they have no defenses, i.e., no walls, gates, or bars on the gates. The figure has been interpreted in the translation for the benefit of the average reader.

[2:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “this is the proud city.”

[2:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”

[2:15]  ²² tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[2:15]  ²³ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”

[2:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”

[2:15]  ²⁵ 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.

[2:1]  ²⁶ 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.

[2:1]  ²⁷ 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.”

[1:2]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew text combines the infinitive absolute of אָסַף (’asaf, “gather up, sweep away”) with a Hiphil prefixed first person form of סוּף (suf, “come to an end”; see Jer 8:13 for the same combination). This can be translated literally, “Sweeping away, I will bring to an end.” Some prefer to emend the text so that the infinitive and finite form of the verb are from the same root (“I will certainly sweep away,” if from אָסַף [cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV]; “I will certainly bring to an end,” if from סוּף). For a discussion of proposals see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 167, 169.