Zephaniah 1:1

Introduction

1:1 This is the prophetic message that the Lord gave to ¹  Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah. Zephaniah delivered this message during the reign of ²  King Josiah son of Amon of Judah:

Zephaniah 2:5

2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ³  are as good as dead. ⁴ 

The Lord has decreed your downfall, ⁵  Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy everyone who lives there!” ⁶ 

Zephaniah 3:4

3:4 Her prophets are proud; ⁷ 

they are deceitful men.

Her priests defile what is holy; ⁸ 

they break God’s laws. ⁹ 

Zephaniah 2:8

2:8 “I have heard Moab’s taunts

and the Ammonites’ insults.

They ¹⁰  taunted my people

and verbally harassed those living in Judah. ¹¹ 

Zephaniah 3:13

3:13 The Israelites who remain ¹²  will not act deceitfully.

They will not lie,

and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth.

Indeed, they will graze peacefully like sheep ¹³  and lie down;

no one will terrify them.”

[1:1]  ¹ tn Heb “The word of the Lord which came to.”

[1:1]  ² tn Heb “in the days of.” The words “Zephaniah delivered this message” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:5]  ³ tn Heb “Kerethites,” a people settled alongside the Philistines in the coastal areas of southern Palestine (cf. 1 Sam 30:14; Ezek 25:16). They originally came from the island of Crete.

[2:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “Woe, inhabitants of the coast of the sea, nation of Kerethites.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), is used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5). By using it here the prophet mourns in advance the downfall of the Philistines, thereby emphasizing the certainty of their demise (“as good as dead”). Some argue the word does not have its earlier connotation here and is simply an attention-getting interjection, equivalent to “Hey!”

[2:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is against you.”

[2:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will destroy you so there is no inhabitant [remaining].”

[3:4]  ⁵ sn Applied to prophets, the word פֹּחֲזִים (pokhazim, “proud”) probably refers to their audacity in passing off their own words as genuine prophecies from the Lord (see Jer 23:32).

[3:4]  ⁶ tn Or “defile the temple.”

[3:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “they treat violently [the] law.”

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:8]  ⁸ 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.”

[3:13]  ⁹ tn Or “the remnant of Israel.”

[3:13]  ¹⁰ tn The words “peacefully like sheep” are supplied in the translation for clarification.