Zephaniah 2:15

2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up ¹  –

the city that was so secure. ² 

She thought to herself, ³  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ⁴ 

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

Everyone who passes by her taunts her ⁵  and shakes his fist. ⁶ 

Zephaniah 3:6

The Lord’s Judgment will Purify

3:6 “I destroyed ⁷  nations;

their walled cities ⁸  are in ruins.

I turned their streets into ruins;

no one passes through them.

Their cities are desolate; ⁹ 

no one lives there. ¹⁰ 

Zephaniah 2:2

2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality ¹¹  and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, ¹² 

before the Lord’s raging anger ¹³  overtakes ¹⁴  you –

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

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, ¹⁵ 

those who think to themselves, ¹⁶ 

‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ ¹⁷ 

Zephaniah 1:8

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

I will punish the princes ¹⁸  and the king’s sons,

and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. ¹⁹ 

Zephaniah 1:10

1:10 On that day,” says the Lord,

“a loud cry will go up ²⁰  from the Fish Gate, ²¹ 

wailing from the city’s newer district, ²² 

and a loud crash ²³  from the hills.

[2:15]  ¹ tn Heb “this is the proud city.”

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

[2:15]  ³ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[2:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”

[2:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”

[2:15]  ⁶ 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.

[3:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “corner towers”; NEB, NRSV “battlements.”

[3:6]  ⁹ tn This Hebrew verb (צָדָה, tsadah) occurs only here in the OT, but its meaning is established from the context and from an Aramaic cognate.

[3:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so that there is no man, without inhabitant.”

[2:2]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “comes upon.” This phrase occurs twice in this verse.

[1:12]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”

[1:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “The Lord does not do good nor does he do evil.”

[1:8]  ²⁵ tn Or “officials” (NRSV, TEV); NLT “leaders.”

[1:8]  ²⁶ sn The very dress of the royal court, foreign styles of clothing, revealed the degree to which Judah had assimilated foreign customs.

[1:10]  ³¹ tn The words “will go up” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:10]  ³² sn The Fish Gate was located on Jerusalem’s north side (cf. 2 Chr 33:14; Neh 3:3; 12:39).

[1:10]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ tn Heb “great breaking.”