Zephaniah 1:15

1:15 That day will be a day of God’s anger, ¹ 

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,

Zephaniah 1:14

1:14 The Lord’s great day of judgment ²  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. ³ 

Zephaniah 1:16

1:16 a day of trumpet blasts ⁴  and battle cries. ⁵ 

Judgment will fall on ⁶  the fortified cities and the high corner towers.

Zephaniah 2:2

2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality ⁷  and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, ⁸ 

before the Lord’s raging anger ⁹  overtakes ¹⁰  you –

before the day of the Lord’s angry judgment overtakes you!

Zephaniah 1:7

1:7 Be silent before the Lord God, ¹¹ 

for the Lord’s day of judgment ¹²  is almost here. ¹³ 

The Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal; ¹⁴ 

he has ritually purified ¹⁵  his guests.

[1:15]  ¹ tn Heb “a day of wrath.” The word “God’s” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:14]  ² tn Heb “The great day of the Lord.” The words “of judgment” are supplied in the translation here and later in this verse for clarity. See the note on the expression “day of judgment” in v. 7.

[1:14]  ³ tn Heb “the sound of the day of the Lord, bitter [is] one crying out there, a warrior.” The present translation does four things: (1) It takes מַר (mar, “bitter”) with what precedes (contrary to the accentuation of the MT). (2) It understands the participle צָרַח (tsarakh, “cry out in battle”) as verbal with “warrior” as its subject. (3) It takes שָׁם (sham, “there”) in a temporal sense, meaning “then, at that time.” (4) It understands “warrior” as collective.

[1:16]  ³ 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”).

[1:16]  ⁴ sn This description of the day of the Lord consists of an initial reference to anger, followed by four pairs of synonyms. The joining of synonyms in this way emphasizes the degree of the characteristic being described. The first two pairs focus on the distress and ruin that judgment will bring; the second two pairs picture this day of judgment as being very dark (darkness) and exceedingly overcast (gloom). The description concludes with the pairing of two familiar battle sounds, the blast on the ram’s horn (trumpet blasts) and the war cries of the warriors (battle cries).

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “against.” The words “judgment will fall” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “before the giving birth of a decree.” For various alternative readings, see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 187-88.

[2:2]  ⁵ tn The second half of the line reads literally, “like chaff it passes by a day.” The translation above assumes the “day” is the brief time God is giving the nation to repent. The comparison of this quickly passing opportunity to chaff is consistent with the straw imagery of v. 1.

[2:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “the fury of the anger of the Lord.” The synonyms are combined to emphasize the extreme degree of the Lord’s anger.

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “comes upon.” This phrase occurs twice in this verse.

[1:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “Lord Lord.” The phrase אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה (adonai yÿhvih) is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God.”

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “the day of the Lord.”

[1:7]  ⁷ tn Or “near.”

[1:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “a sacrifice.” This same word also occurs in the following verse.

[1:7]  ⁹ tn Or “consecrated” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).