Zephaniah 2:14

2:14 Flocks and herds ¹  will lie down in the middle of it,

as well as every kind of wild animal. ² 

Owls ³  will sleep in the tops of its support pillars;

they will hoot through the windows. ⁴ 

Rubble will cover the thresholds; ⁵ 

even the cedar work ⁶  will be exposed to the elements. ⁷ 

Genesis 19:24-25

19:24 Then the Lord rained down ⁸  sulfur and fire ⁹  on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. ¹⁰  19:25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, ¹¹  including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew ¹²  from the ground.

Deuteronomy 29:23

29:23 The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger. ¹³ 

Isaiah 13:19-20

13:19 Babylon, the most admired ¹⁴  of kingdoms,

the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, ¹⁵ 

will be destroyed by God

just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. ¹⁶ 

13:20 No one will live there again;

no one will ever reside there again. ¹⁷ 

No bedouin ¹⁸  will camp ¹⁹  there,

no shepherds will rest their flocks ²⁰  there.

Isaiah 34:9-13

34:9 Edom’s ²¹  streams will be turned into pitch

and her soil into brimstone;

her land will become burning pitch.

34:10 Night and day it will burn; ²² 

its smoke will ascend continually.

Generation after generation it will be a wasteland

and no one will ever pass through it again.

34:11 Owls and wild animals ²³  will live there, ²⁴ 

all kinds of wild birds ²⁵  will settle in it.

The Lord ²⁶  will stretch out over her

the measuring line of ruin

and the plumb line ²⁷  of destruction. ²⁸ 

34:12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom

and all her officials will disappear. ²⁹ 

34:13 Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns;

thickets and weeds will grow ³⁰  in her fortified cities.

Jackals will settle there;

ostriches will live there. ³¹ 

Jeremiah 49:18

49:18 Edom will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah

and the towns that were around them.

No one will live there.

No human being will settle in it,”

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 50:40

50:40 I will destroy Babylonia just like I did

Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns.

No one will live there. ³² 

No human being will settle in it,”

says the Lord. ³³ 

[2:14]  ¹ tn Heb “flocks.” The Hebrew word can refer to both flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.

[2:14]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “cedar work” (so NASB, NRSV) is unclear; NIV has “the beams of cedar.”

[2:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “one will expose.” The subject is probably indefinite, though one could translate, “for he [i.e., God] will lay bare.”

[19:24]  ⁸ tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of the next scene and highlights God’s action.

[19:24]  ⁹ tn Or “burning sulfur” (the traditional “fire and brimstone”).

[19:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from the Lord from the heavens.” The words “It was sent down” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[19:25]  ¹¹ tn Or “and all the plain”; Heb “and all the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:25]  ¹² tn Heb “and the vegetation of the ground.”

[29:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” This construction is a hendiadys intended to intensify the emotion.

[13:19]  ¹⁴ tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).

[13:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”

[13:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.

[13:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “she will not be inhabited forever, and she will not be dwelt in to generation and generation (i.e., forever).” The Lord declares that Babylon, personified as a woman, will not be inhabited. In other words, her people will be destroyed and the Chaldean empire will come to a permanent end.

[13:20]  ¹⁸ tn Or “Arab” (NAB, NASB, NIV); cf. CEV, NLT “nomads.”

[13:20]  ¹⁹ tn יַהֵל (yahel) is probably a corrupted form of יֶאֱהַל (ye’ehal). See GKC 186 §68.k.

[13:20]  ²⁰ tn The words “their flocks” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text does not supply the object here, but see Jer 33:12.

[34:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Edom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:10]  ²² tn Heb “it will not be extinguished.”

[34:11]  ²³ tn קָאַת (qa’at) refers to some type of bird (cf. Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). קִפּוֹד (qippod) may also refer to a type of bird (NAB “hoot owl”; NIV “screech owl”; TEV “ravens”), but some have suggested a rodent may be in view (cf. NCV “small animals”; ASV “porcupine”; NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”).

[34:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).

[34:11]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew text has יַנְשׁוֹף וְעֹרֵב (yanshof vÿ’orev). Both the יַנְשׁוֹף (“owl”; see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16) and עֹרֵב (“raven”; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) were types of wild birds.

[34:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.

[34:11]  ²⁸ sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.

[34:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “will be nothing”; NCV, TEV, NLT “will all be gone.”

[34:13]  ³⁰ tn The words “will grow” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:13]  ³¹ tc Heb “and she will be a settlement for wild dogs, a dwelling place for ostriches.” The translation assumes an emendation of חָצִיר (khatsir, “grass”) to חָצֵר (khatser, “settlement”). One of the Qumran scrolls of Isaiah (1QIsa^a) supports this emendation (cf. HALOT 344 s.v. II חָצִיר)

[50:40]  ³² tn Heb “‘Like [when] God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns,’ oracle of the Lord, ‘no man will live there.’” The Lord is speaking so the first person has been substituted for “God.” The sentence has again been broken up to better conform with contemporary English style.

[50:40]  ³³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”