Joshua 23:7

23:7 or associate with these nations that remain near ¹  you. You must not invoke or make solemn declarations by the names of their gods! ²  You must not worship ³  or bow down to them!

Psalms 106:35-36

106:35 They mixed in with the nations

and learned their ways. ⁴ 

106:36 They worshiped ⁵  their idols,

which became a snare to them. ⁶ 

Zephaniah 1:5

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 

[23:7]  ¹ tn Heb “with.”

[23:7]  ² tn Heb “and in the name of their gods you must not invoke and you must not make solemn declarations.” The words “and you must not make solemn declarations” are omitted in the LXX and may represent a later scribal addition to elucidate the immediately preceding command. The Hiphil of שָׁבַע (shava’) without an object occurs only here and in Josh 6:26.

[23:7]  ³ tn Or “serve.”

[106:35]  ⁴ tn Heb “their deeds.”

[106:36]  ⁵ tn Or “served.”

[106:36]  ⁶ sn Became a snare. See Exod 23:33; Judg 2:3.

[1:5]  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.

[1:5]  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.

[1:5]  ⁹ tc The MT reads, “those who worship, those who swear allegiance to the Lord.” The original form of the LXX omits the phrase “those who worship”; it may have been accidentally repeated from the preceding line. J. J. M. Roberts prefers to delete as secondary the phrase “those who swear allegiance” (J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 168).

[1:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “those who swear by.”

[1:5]  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 mss, Syriac, and Vulgate) or “Molech,” a god to whom the Israelites offered their children (cf. NIV, NLT). For a discussion of the options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 75-77.