Zephaniah 2:13-15

2:13 The Lord ¹  will attack the north ² 

and destroy Assyria.

He will make Nineveh a heap of ruins;

it will be as barren ³  as the desert.

2:14 Flocks and herds ⁴  will lie down in the middle of it,

as well as every kind of wild animal. ⁵ 

Owls ⁶  will sleep in the tops of its support pillars;

they will hoot through the windows. ⁷ 

Rubble will cover the thresholds; ⁸ 

even the cedar work ⁹  will be exposed to the elements. ¹⁰ 

2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up ¹¹  –

the city that was so secure. ¹² 

She thought to herself, ¹³  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ¹⁴ 

What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live!

Everyone who passes by her taunts her ¹⁵  and shakes his fist. ¹⁶ 

[2:13]  ¹ tn Heb “He”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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

[2:13]  ³ tn Or “dry.”

[2:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “flocks.” The Hebrew word can refer to both flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.

[2:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “[and] all the wild animals of a nation.” How גוֹי (goy, “nation”) relates to what precedes is unclear. It may be a corruption of another word. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 193.

[2:14]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text reads here גַּם־קָאַת גַּם־קִפֹּד (gam-qa’at gam-qippod). The term קָאַת refers to some type of bird (see Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (Isa 34:11); one of the most common translations is “owl” (cf. NEB “horned owl”; NIV, NRSV “desert owl”; contra NASB “pelican”). The term קִפֹּד may also refer to a type of bird (cf. NEB “ruffed bustard”; NIV, NRSV “screech owl”). Some suggest a rodent may be in view (cf. NASB “hedgehog”); this is not unreasonable, for a rodent or some other small animal would be able to sleep in the tops of pillars which would be lying in the ruins of the fallen buildings.

[2:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “a sound will sing in the window.” If some type of owl is in view, “hoot” is a more appropriate translation (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[2:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “rubble [will be] on the threshold.” “Rubble” translates the Hebrew word חֹרֶב (khorev, “desolation”). Some emend to עֹרֵב (’orev, “raven”) following the LXX and Vulgate; Adele Berlin translates, “A voice shall shriek from the window – a raven at the sill” (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 104).

[2:14]  ⁹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “cedar work” (so NASB, NRSV) is unclear; NIV has “the beams of cedar.”

[2:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “one will expose.” The subject is probably indefinite, though one could translate, “for he [i.e., God] will lay bare.”

[2:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “this is the proud city.”

[2:15]  ¹² tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”

[2:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[2:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”

[2:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”

[2:15]  ¹⁶ sn Hissing (or whistling) and shaking the fist were apparently ways of taunting a defeated foe or an object of derision in the culture of the time.