Zephaniah 2:3

2:3 Seek the Lord’s favor, ¹  all you humble people ²  of the land who have obeyed his commands! ³ 

Strive to do what is right! ⁴  Strive to be humble! ⁵ 

Maybe you will be protected ⁶  on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

Zephaniah 2:5

2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ⁷  are as good as dead. ⁸ 

The Lord has decreed your downfall, ⁹  Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy everyone who lives there!” ¹⁰ 

Zephaniah 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ¹¹ 

for ¹²  he will weaken ¹³  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ¹⁴ 

Zephaniah 3:19

3:19 Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you.

I will rescue the lame sheep ¹⁵ 

and gather together the scattered sheep.

I will take away their humiliation

and make the whole earth admire and respect them. ¹⁶ 

[2:3]  ¹ tn Heb “seek the Lord,” but “favor” seems to be implied from the final line of the verse.

[2:3]  ² tn Or “poor.” The precise referent of this Hebrew term is unclear. The word may refer to the economically poor or to the spiritually humble.

[2:3]  ³ tn The present translation assumes the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here refers to God’s covenantal requirements and is a synonym for the Law. The word can mean “justice” and could refer more specifically to the principles of justice contained in the Law. In this case the phrase could be translated, “who have promoted the justice God demands.”

[2:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “Seek what is right.”

[2:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Seek humility.”

[2:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “hidden.” Cf. NEB “it may be that you will find shelter”; NRSV “perhaps you may be hidden.”

[2:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “Kerethites,” a people settled alongside the Philistines in the coastal areas of southern Palestine (cf. 1 Sam 30:14; Ezek 25:16). They originally came from the island of Crete.

[2:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “Woe, inhabitants of the coast of the sea, nation of Kerethites.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), is used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5). By using it here the prophet mourns in advance the downfall of the Philistines, thereby emphasizing the certainty of their demise (“as good as dead”). Some argue the word does not have its earlier connotation here and is simply an attention-getting interjection, equivalent to “Hey!”

[2:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is against you.”

[2:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will destroy you so there is no inhabitant [remaining].”

[2:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ¹⁴ tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”

[3:19]  ¹⁹ tn The word “sheep” is supplied for clarification. As in Mic 4:6-7, the exiles are here pictured as injured and scattered sheep whom the divine shepherd rescues from danger.

[3:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I will make them into praise and a name, in all the earth, their shame.” The present translation assumes that “their shame” specifies “them” and that “name” stands here for a good reputation.