Zephaniah 1:16

1:16 a day of trumpet blasts ¹  and battle cries. ² 

Judgment will fall on ³  the fortified cities and the high corner towers.

Zephaniah 3:6

The Lord’s Judgment will Purify

3:6 “I destroyed ⁴  nations;

their walled cities ⁵  are in ruins.

I turned their streets into ruins;

no one passes through them.

Their cities are desolate; ⁶ 

no one lives there. ⁷ 

[1:16]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “against.” The words “judgment will fall” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “corner towers”; NEB, NRSV “battlements.”

[3:6]  ⁶ tn This Hebrew verb (צָדָה, tsadah) occurs only here in the OT, but its meaning is established from the context and from an Aramaic cognate.

[3:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “so that there is no man, without inhabitant.”