Zephaniah 3:1

Jerusalem is Corrupt

3:1 The filthy, ¹  stained city is as good as dead;

the city filled with oppressors is finished! ² 

Zephaniah 2:15

2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up ³  –

the city that was so secure. ⁴ 

She thought to herself, ⁵  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ⁶ 

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

Everyone who passes by her taunts her ⁷  and shakes his fist. ⁸ 

[3:1]  ¹ tn The present translation assumes מֹרְאָה (mor’ah) is derived from רֹאִי (ro’i,“excrement”; see Jastrow 1436 s.v. רֳאִי). The following participle, “stained,” supports this interpretation (cf. NEB “filthy and foul”; NRSV “soiled, defiled”). Another option is to derive the form from מָרָה (marah, “to rebel”); in this case the term should be translated “rebellious” (cf. NASB, NIV “rebellious and defiled”). This idea is supported by v. 2. For discussion of the two options, see HALOT 630 s.v. I מרא and J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 206.

[3:1]  ² tn Heb “Woe, soiled and stained one, oppressive city.” The verb “is finished” is supplied in the second line. On the Hebrew word הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), see the note on the word “dead” in 2:5.

[2:15]  ³ tn Heb “this is the proud city.”

[2:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”

[2:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[2:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”

[2:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”

[2:15]  ⁸ 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.