Zephaniah 1:5-6

1:5 I will remove ¹  those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, ² 

those who swear allegiance to the Lord ³  while taking oaths in the name of ⁴  their ‘king,’ ⁵ 

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

and do not want the Lord’s help or guidance.” ⁷ 

Zephaniah 3:20

3:20 At that time I will lead you –

at the time I gather you together. ⁸ 

Be sure of this! ⁹  I will make all the nations of the earth respect and admire you ¹⁰ 

when you see me restore you,” ¹¹  says the Lord.

Zephaniah 2:13

2:13 The Lord ¹²  will attack the north ¹³ 

and destroy Assyria.

He will make Nineveh a heap of ruins;

it will be as barren ¹⁴  as the desert.

Zephaniah 3:19

3:19 Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you.

I will rescue the lame sheep ¹⁵ 

and gather together the scattered sheep.

I will take away their humiliation

and make the whole earth admire and respect them. ¹⁶ 

Zephaniah 1:4

1:4 “I will attack ¹⁷  Judah

and all who live in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ 

I will remove ¹⁹  from this place every trace of Baal worship, ²⁰ 

as well as the very memory ²¹  of the pagan priests. ²² 

Zephaniah 1:13

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.

Zephaniah 2:3

2:3 Seek the Lord’s favor, ²³  all you humble people ²⁴  of the land who have obeyed his commands! ²⁵ 

Strive to do what is right! ²⁶  Strive to be humble! ²⁷ 

Maybe you will be protected ²⁸  on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

Zephaniah 2:8

2:8 “I have heard Moab’s taunts

and the Ammonites’ insults.

They ²⁹  taunted my people

and verbally harassed those living in Judah. ³⁰ 

Zephaniah 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ³¹ 

for ³²  he will weaken ³³  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ³⁴ 

Zephaniah 3:7

3:7 I thought, ³⁵  ‘Certainly you will respect ³⁶  me!

Now you will accept correction!’

If she had done so, her home ³⁷  would not be destroyed ³⁸ 

by all the punishments I have threatened. ³⁹ 

But they eagerly sinned

in everything they did. ⁴⁰ 

Zephaniah 1:3

1:3 “I will destroy people and animals;

I will destroy the birds in the sky

and the fish in the sea.

(The idolatrous images of these creatures will be destroyed along with evil people.) ⁴¹ 

I will remove ⁴²  humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.

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, ⁴³ 

those who think to themselves, ⁴⁴ 

‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ ⁴⁵ 

Zephaniah 1:18

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 

[1:5]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “those who swear by.”

[1:5]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “turn back from [following] after.”

[1:6]  ⁷ 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.

[3:20]  ¹¹ tn In this line the second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that the exiles are addressed.

[3:20]  ¹² tn Or “for.”

[3:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will make you into a name and praise among all the peoples of the earth.” Here the word “name” carries the nuance of “good reputation.”

[3:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “when I restore your fortunes to your eyes.” See the note on the phrase “restore them” in 2:7.

[2:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “He”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he will stretch out his hand against the north.”

[2:13]  ¹⁸ tn Or “dry.”

[3:19]  ²¹ tn The word “sheep” is supplied for clarification. As in Mic 4:6-7, the exiles are here pictured as injured and scattered sheep whom the divine shepherd rescues from danger.

[3:19]  ²² tn Heb “I will make them into praise and a name, in all the earth, their shame.” The present translation assumes that “their shame” specifies “them” and that “name” stands here for a good reputation.

[1:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I will stretch out my hand against,” is an idiom for hostile action.

[1:4]  ²⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the remnant of Baal.”

[1:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “name.” Here the “name” is figurative for the memory of those who bear it.

[1:4]  ³¹ 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).

[2:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “seek the Lord,” but “favor” seems to be implied from the final line of the verse.

[2:3]  ³² 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]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Seek what is right.”

[2:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Seek humility.”

[2:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “hidden.” Cf. NEB “it may be that you will find shelter”; NRSV “perhaps you may be hidden.”

[2:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:8]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and they made great [their mouth?] against their territory.” Other possible translation options include (1) “they enlarged their own territory” (cf. NEB) and (2) “they bragged about [the size] of their own territory.”

[2:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ⁴² tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  ⁴³ tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”

[2:11]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”

[3:7]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “said.”

[3:7]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “fear.” The second person verb form (“you will respect”) is feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed.

[3:7]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “dwelling place.”

[3:7]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:7]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “all which I have punished her.” The precise meaning of this statement and its relationship to what precedes are unclear.

[3:7]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “But they got up early, they made corrupt all their actions.” The phrase “they got up early” probably refers to their eagerness to engage in sinful activities.

[1:3]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “And the stumbling blocks [or, “ruins”] with the evil”; or “the things that make the evil stumble.” The line does not appear in the original form of the LXX; it may be a later scribal addition. The present translation assumes the “stumbling blocks” are idolatrous images of animals, birds, and fish. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 167, and Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB), 73-74.

[1:3]  ⁵² tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:12]  ⁵⁶ 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]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”

[1:12]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “The Lord does not do good nor does he do evil.”

[1:18]  ⁶¹ tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

[1:18]  ⁶² tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

[1:18]  ⁶³ tn Or “for.”

[1:18]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

[1:18]  ⁶⁵ 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).