Zephaniah 1:5

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 

Zephaniah 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ⁶ 

for ⁷  he will weaken ⁸  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ⁹ 

Zephaniah 3:10

3:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, ¹⁰ 

those who pray to me ¹¹  will bring me tribute.

Zephaniah 3:9

3:9 Know for sure that I will then enable

the nations to give me acceptable praise. ¹² 

All of them will invoke the Lord’s name when they pray, ¹³ 

and will worship him in unison. ¹⁴ 

Zephaniah 1:4

1:4 “I will attack ¹⁵  Judah

and all who live in Jerusalem. ¹⁶ 

I will remove ¹⁷  from this place every trace of Baal worship, ¹⁸ 

as well as the very memory ¹⁹  of the pagan priests. ²⁰ 

Zephaniah 1:6

1:6 and those who turn their backs on ²¹  the Lord

and do not want the Lord’s help or guidance.” ²² 

Zephaniah 1:9

1:9 On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, ²³ 

who fill the house of their master ²⁴  with wealth taken by violence and deceit. ²⁵ 

Zephaniah 3:7

3:7 I thought, ²⁶  ‘Certainly you will respect ²⁷  me!

Now you will accept correction!’

If she had done so, her home ²⁸  would not be destroyed ²⁹ 

by all the punishments I have threatened. ³⁰ 

But they eagerly sinned

in everything they did. ³¹ 

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.) ³² 

I will remove ³³  humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.

[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.

[2:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ⁷ tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”

[3:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “Nubia”; Heb “Cush.” “Cush” is traditionally assumed to refer to the region south of Egypt, i.e. Nubia or northern Sudan, referred to as “Ethiopia” by classical authors (not the more recent Abyssinia).

[3:10]  ¹² tn Heb “those who pray to me, the daughter of my dispersed ones.” The meaning of the phrase is unclear. Perhaps the text is corrupt at this point or a proper name should be understood. For a discussion of various options see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 134-35.

[3:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Certainly [or perhaps, “For”] then I will restore to the nations a pure lip.”

[3:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “so that all of them will call on the name of the Lord.”

[3:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “so that [they] will serve him [with] one shoulder.”

[1:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “I will stretch out my hand against,” is an idiom for hostile action.

[1:4]  ²² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:4]  ²³ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the remnant of Baal.”

[1:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “name.” Here the “name” is figurative for the memory of those who bear it.

[1:4]  ²⁶ 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).

[1:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “turn back from [following] after.”

[1:6]  ²⁷ 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.

[1:9]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn The referent of “their master” is unclear. The king or a pagan god may be in view.

[1:9]  ³³ tn Heb “who fill…with violence and deceit.” The expression “violence and deceit” refers metonymically to the wealth taken by oppressive measures.

[3:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “said.”

[3:7]  ³⁷ tn Or “fear.” The second person verb form (“you will respect”) is feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed.

[3:7]  ³⁸ tn Or “dwelling place.”

[3:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “all which I have punished her.” The precise meaning of this statement and its relationship to what precedes are unclear.

[3:7]  ⁴¹ 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]  ⁴¹ 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]  ⁴² tn Heb “cut off.”