Zephaniah 3:14-15

3:14 Shout for joy, Daughter Zion! ¹ 

Shout out, Israel!

Be happy and boast with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!

3:15 The Lord has removed the judgment against you; ² 

he has turned back your enemy.

Israel’s king, the Lord, is in your midst!

You no longer need to fear disaster.

Zephaniah 2:9

2:9 Therefore, as surely as I live,” says the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel,

“be certain that Moab will become like Sodom

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.

They will be overrun by weeds, ³ 

filled with salt pits, ⁴ 

and permanently desolate.

Those of my people who are left ⁵  will plunder their belongings; ⁶ 

those who are left in Judah ⁷  will take possession of their land.”

Zephaniah 3:13

3:13 The Israelites who remain ⁸  will not act deceitfully.

They will not lie,

and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth.

Indeed, they will graze peacefully like sheep ⁹  and lie down;

no one will terrify them.”

[3:14]  ¹ sn This phrase is used as an epithet for the city and the nation. “Daughter” may seem extraneous in English but consciously joins the various epithets and metaphors of Israel and Jerusalem as a woman, a device used to evoke sympathy from the reader.

[3:15]  ² tn Heb “your judgments,” that is, “the judgments directed against you.” The translation reflects the implications of the parallelism.

[2:9]  ³ tn The Hebrew text reads מִמְשַׁק חָרוּל (mimshaq kharul, “[?] of weeds”). The meaning of the first word is unknown. The present translation (“They will be overrun by weeds”) is speculative, based on the general sense of the context. For a defense of “overrun” on linguistic grounds, see R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 347. Cf. NEB “a pile of weeds”; NIV “a place of weeds”; NRSV “a land possessed by nettles.”

[2:9]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text reads וּמִכְרֵה־מֶלַח (umikhreh-melakh, “and a [?] of salt”). The meaning of the first word is unclear, though “pit” (NASB, NIV, NRSV; NKJV “saltpit”), “mine,” and “heap” (cf. NEB “a rotting heap of saltwort”) are all options. The words “filled with” are supplied for clarification.

[2:9]  ⁵ tn Or “The remnant of my people.”

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “them.” The actual object of the plundering, “their belongings,” has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “[the] nation.” For clarity the “nation” has been specified as “Judah” in the translation.

[3:13]  ⁴ tn Or “the remnant of Israel.”

[3:13]  ⁵ tn The words “peacefully like sheep” are supplied in the translation for clarification.