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 3:6

The Lord’s Judgment will Purify

3:6 “I destroyed ⁵  nations;

their walled cities ⁶  are in ruins.

I turned their streets into ruins;

no one passes through them.

Their cities are desolate; ⁷ 

no one lives there. ⁸ 

[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.

[3:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “cut off.”

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

[3:6]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “so that there is no man, without inhabitant.”