Zephaniah 2:2

2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality ¹  and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, ² 

before the Lord’s raging anger ³  overtakes ⁴  you –

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

Zephaniah 3:6

The Lord’s Judgment will Purify

3:6 “I destroyed ⁵  nations;

their walled cities ⁶  are in ruins.

I turned their streets into ruins;

no one passes through them.

Their cities are desolate; ⁷ 

no one lives there. ⁸ 

[2:2]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “comes upon.” This phrase occurs twice in this verse.

[3:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “cut off.”

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

[3:6]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “so that there is no man, without inhabitant.”