Zephaniah 1:4--2:3

1:4 “I will attack ¹  Judah

and all who live in Jerusalem. ² 

I will remove ³  from this place every trace of Baal worship, ⁴ 

as well as the very memory ⁵  of the pagan priests. ⁶ 

1:5 I will remove ⁷  those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, ⁸ 

those who swear allegiance to the Lord ⁹  while taking oaths in the name of ¹⁰  their ‘king,’ ¹¹ 

1:6 and those who turn their backs on ¹²  the Lord

and do not want the Lord’s help or guidance.” ¹³ 

1:7 Be silent before the Lord God, ¹⁴ 

for the Lord’s day of judgment ¹⁵  is almost here. ¹⁶ 

The Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal; ¹⁷ 

he has ritually purified ¹⁸  his guests.

1:8 “On the day of the Lord’s sacrificial meal,

I will punish the princes ¹⁹  and the king’s sons,

and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. ²⁰ 

1:9 On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, ²¹ 

who fill the house of their master ²²  with wealth taken by violence and deceit. ²³ 

1:10 On that day,” says the Lord,

“a loud cry will go up ²⁴  from the Fish Gate, ²⁵ 

wailing from the city’s newer district, ²⁶ 

and a loud crash ²⁷  from the hills.

1:11 Wail, you who live in the market district, ²⁸ 

for all the merchants ²⁹  will disappear ³⁰ 

and those who count money ³¹  will be removed. ³² 

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

I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, ³³ 

those who think to themselves, ³⁴ 

‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ ³⁵ 

1:13 Their wealth will be stolen

and their houses ruined!

They will not live in the houses they have built,

nor will they drink the wine from the vineyards they have planted.

1:14 The Lord’s great day of judgment ³⁶  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. ³⁷ 

1:15 That day will be a day of God’s anger, ³⁸ 

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,

1:16 a day of trumpet blasts ³⁹  and battle cries. ⁴⁰ 

Judgment will fall on ⁴¹  the fortified cities and the high corner towers.

1:17 I will bring distress on the people ⁴² 

and they will stumble ⁴³  like blind men,

for they have sinned against the Lord.

Their blood will be poured out like dirt;

their flesh ⁴⁴  will be scattered ⁴⁵  like manure.

1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them

in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

The whole earth ⁴⁶  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ⁴⁷ 

Indeed, ⁴⁸  he will bring terrifying destruction ⁴⁹  on all who live on the earth.” ⁵⁰ 

The Prophet Warns the People

2:1 Bunch yourselves together like straw, ⁵¹  you undesirable ⁵²  nation,

2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality ⁵³  and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, ⁵⁴ 

before the Lord’s raging anger ⁵⁵  overtakes ⁵⁶  you –

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

2:3 Seek the Lord’s favor, ⁵⁷  all you humble people ⁵⁸  of the land who have obeyed his commands! ⁵⁹ 

Strive to do what is right! ⁶⁰  Strive to be humble! ⁶¹ 

Maybe you will be protected ⁶²  on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

[1:4]  ¹ tn Heb “I will stretch out my hand against,” is an idiom for hostile action.

[1:4]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:4]  ³ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “the remnant of Baal.”

[1:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “name.” Here the “name” is figurative for the memory of those who bear it.

[1:4]  ⁶ tc Heb “of the pagan priests and priests.” The first word (כְּמָרִים, kÿmarim) refers to idolatrous priests in its two other appearances in the OT (2 Kgs 23:5, Hos 10:5), while the second word (כֹּהֲנִים, kohanim) is the normal term for “priest” and is used of both legitimate and illegitimate priests in the OT. It is likely that the second term, which is omitted in the LXX, is a later scribal addition to the Hebrew text, defining the extremely rare word that precedes (see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 167-68; cf. also NEB, NRSV). Some argue that both words are original; among the modern English versions that include both are NASB and NIV. Possibly the first word refers to outright pagan priests, while the second has in view once-legitimate priests of the Lord who had drifted into idolatrous practices. Another option is found in Adele Berlin, who translates, “the idolatrous priests among the priests,” understanding the second word as giving the general category of which the idolatrous priests are a part (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 75).

[1:5]  ⁷ tn The words “I will remove” are repeated from v. 4b for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 4b-6 contain a long list of objects for the verb “I will remove” in v. 4b. In the present translation a new sentence was begun at the beginning of v. 5 in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences.

[1:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “those who worship on their roofs the host of heaven.” The “host of heaven” included the sun, moon, planets, and stars, all of which were deified in the ancient Near East.

[1:5]  ⁹ tc The MT reads, “those who worship, those who swear allegiance to the Lord.” The original form of the LXX omits the phrase “those who worship”; it may have been accidentally repeated from the preceding line. J. J. M. Roberts prefers to delete as secondary the phrase “those who swear allegiance” (J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 168).

[1:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “those who swear by.”

[1:5]  ¹¹ tn The referent of “their king” is unclear. It may refer sarcastically to a pagan god (perhaps Baal) worshiped by the people. Some English versions (cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV) prefer to emend the text to “Milcom,” the name of an Ammonite god (following some LXX mss, Syriac, and Vulgate) or “Molech,” a god to whom the Israelites offered their children (cf. NIV, NLT). For a discussion of the options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 75-77.

[1:6]  ¹² tn Heb “turn back from [following] after.”

[1:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “who do not seek the Lord and do not inquire of him.” The present translation assumes the first verb refers to praying for divine help and the second to seeking his revealed will through an oracle. Note the usage of the two verbs in 2 Chr 20:3-4.

[1:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Lord Lord.” The phrase אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה (adonai yÿhvih) is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God.”

[1:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the day of the Lord.”

[1:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or “near.”

[1:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a sacrifice.” This same word also occurs in the following verse.

[1:7]  ¹⁸ tn Or “consecrated” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[1:8]  ¹⁹ tn Or “officials” (NRSV, TEV); NLT “leaders.”

[1:8]  ²⁰ sn The very dress of the royal court, foreign styles of clothing, revealed the degree to which Judah had assimilated foreign customs.

[1:9]  ²¹ sn The point of the statement all who hop over the threshold is unclear. A ritual or superstition associated with the Philistine god Dagon may be in view (see 1 Sam 5:5).

[1:9]  ²² tn The referent of “their master” is unclear. The king or a pagan god may be in view.

[1:9]  ²³ tn Heb “who fill…with violence and deceit.” The expression “violence and deceit” refers metonymically to the wealth taken by oppressive measures.

[1:10]  ²⁴ tn The words “will go up” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:10]  ²⁵ sn The Fish Gate was located on Jerusalem’s north side (cf. 2 Chr 33:14; Neh 3:3; 12:39).

[1:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from the second area.” This may refer to an area northwest of the temple where the rich lived (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 86; cf. NASB, NRSV “the Second Quarter”; NIV “the New Quarter”).

[1:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “great breaking.”

[1:11]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Or “be destroyed.”

[1:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “weigh out silver.”

[1:11]  ³² 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.

[1:12]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”

[1:12]  ³⁵ tn Heb “The Lord does not do good nor does he do evil.”

[1:14]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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.

[1:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “a day of wrath.” The word “God’s” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:16]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “against.” The words “judgment will fall” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:17]  ⁴² 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]  ⁴³ tn Heb “walk.”

[1:17]  ⁴⁴ tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).

[1:17]  ⁴⁵ 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.

[1:18]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

[1:18]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

[1:18]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “for.”

[1:18]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

[1:18]  ⁵⁰ tn It is not certain where the Lord’s words end and the prophet’s words begin. It is possible that Zephaniah begins speaking in the middle of v. 17 or at the beginning of v. 18 (note the third person pronouns referring to the Lord).

[2:1]  ⁵¹ 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]  ⁵² 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.”

[2:2]  ⁵³ 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]  ⁵⁴ 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]  ⁵⁵ 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]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “comes upon.” This phrase occurs twice in this verse.

[2:3]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “seek the Lord,” but “favor” seems to be implied from the final line of the verse.

[2:3]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “poor.” The precise referent of this Hebrew term is unclear. The word may refer to the economically poor or to the spiritually humble.

[2:3]  ⁵⁹ tn The present translation assumes the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here refers to God’s covenantal requirements and is a synonym for the Law. The word can mean “justice” and could refer more specifically to the principles of justice contained in the Law. In this case the phrase could be translated, “who have promoted the justice God demands.”

[2:3]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “Seek what is right.”

[2:3]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “Seek humility.”

[2:3]  ⁶² tn Heb “hidden.” Cf. NEB “it may be that you will find shelter”; NRSV “perhaps you may be hidden.”