Zephaniah 1:17

1:17 I will bring distress on the people ¹ 

and they will stumble ²  like blind men,

for they have sinned against the Lord.

Their blood will be poured out like dirt;

their flesh ³  will be scattered ⁴  like manure.

Zephaniah 2:9

2:9 Therefore, as surely as I live,” says the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel,

“be certain that Moab will become like Sodom

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.

They will be overrun by weeds, ⁵ 

filled with salt pits, ⁶ 

and permanently desolate.

Those of my people who are left ⁷  will plunder their belongings; ⁸ 

those who are left in Judah ⁹  will take possession of their land.”

Zephaniah 2:2

2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality ¹⁰  and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, ¹¹ 

before the Lord’s raging anger ¹²  overtakes ¹³  you –

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

Zephaniah 2:13

2:13 The Lord ¹⁴  will attack the north ¹⁵ 

and destroy Assyria.

He will make Nineveh a heap of ruins;

it will be as barren ¹⁶  as the desert.

Zephaniah 3:3

3:3 Her princes ¹⁷  are as fierce as roaring lions; ¹⁸ 

her rulers ¹⁹  are as hungry as wolves in the desert, ²⁰ 

who completely devour their prey by morning. ²¹ 

Zephaniah 1:12

1:12 At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps.

I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, ²² 

those who think to themselves, ²³ 

‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ ²⁴ 

Zephaniah 2:1

The Prophet Warns the People

2:1 Bunch yourselves together like straw, ²⁵  you undesirable ²⁶  nation,

Zephaniah 1:11

1:11 Wail, you who live in the market district, ²⁷ 

for all the merchants ²⁸  will disappear ²⁹ 

and those who count money ³⁰  will be removed. ³¹ 

Zephaniah 3:13

3:13 The Israelites who remain ³²  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 ³³  and lie down;

no one will terrify them.”

[1:17]  ¹ tn “The people” refers to mankind in general (see vv. 2-3) or more specifically to the residents of Judah (see vv. 4-13).

[1:17]  ² tn Heb “walk.”

[1:17]  ³ tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).

[1:17]  ⁴ tn The words “will be scattered” are supplied in the translation for clarity based on the parallelism with “will be poured out” in the previous line.

[2:9]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text reads מִמְשַׁק חָרוּל (mimshaq kharul, “[?] of weeds”). The meaning of the first word is unknown. The present translation (“They will be overrun by weeds”) is speculative, based on the general sense of the context. For a defense of “overrun” on linguistic grounds, see R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 347. Cf. NEB “a pile of weeds”; NIV “a place of weeds”; NRSV “a land possessed by nettles.”

[2:9]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text reads וּמִכְרֵה־מֶלַח (umikhreh-melakh, “and a [?] of salt”). The meaning of the first word is unclear, though “pit” (NASB, NIV, NRSV; NKJV “saltpit”), “mine,” and “heap” (cf. NEB “a rotting heap of saltwort”) are all options. The words “filled with” are supplied for clarification.

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Or “The remnant of my people.”

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “them.” The actual object of the plundering, “their belongings,” has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “[the] nation.” For clarity the “nation” has been specified as “Judah” in the translation.

[2:2]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Heb “comes upon.” This phrase occurs twice in this verse.

[2:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “He”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he will stretch out his hand against the north.”

[2:13]  ¹⁵ tn Or “dry.”

[3:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “officials.”

[3:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “her princes in her midst are roaring lions.” The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as fierce as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ¹⁹ tn Traditionally “judges.”

[3:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “her judges [are] wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 128. The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as hungry as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “they do not gnaw [a bone] at morning.” The precise meaning of the line is unclear. The statement may mean these wolves devour their prey so completely that not even a bone is left to gnaw by the time morning arrives. For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 129.

[1:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “who thicken on their sediment.” The imagery comes from wine making, where the wine, if allowed to remain on the sediment too long, will thicken into syrup. The image suggests that the people described here were complacent in their sinful behavior and interpreted the delay in judgment as divine apathy.

[1:12]  ²² tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”

[1:12]  ²³ tn Heb “The Lord does not do good nor does he do evil.”

[2:1]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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.”

[1:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “in the Mortar.” The Hebrew term מַכְתֵּשׁ (makhtesh, “mortar”) is apparently here the name of a low-lying area where economic activity took place.

[1:11]  ³⁰ tn Or perhaps “Canaanites.” Cf. BDB 489 s.v. I and II כְּנַעֲנִי. Translators have rendered the term either as “the merchant people” (KJV, NKJV), “the traders” (NRSV), “merchants” (NEB, NIV), or, alternatively, “the people of Canaan” (NASB).

[1:11]  ³¹ tn Or “be destroyed.”

[1:11]  ³² tn Heb “weigh out silver.”

[1:11]  ³³ tn Heb “be cut off.” In the Hebrew text of v. 11b the perfect verbal forms emphasize the certainty of the judgment, speaking of it as if it were already accomplished.

[3:13]  ³³ tn Or “the remnant of Israel.”

[3:13]  ³⁴ tn The words “peacefully like sheep” are supplied in the translation for clarification.