Zephaniah 3:14

3:14 Shout for joy, Daughter Zion! ¹ 

Shout out, Israel!

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

Zephaniah 3:16

3:16 On that day they will say ²  to Jerusalem,

“Don’t be afraid, Zion!

Your hands must not be paralyzed from panic! ³ 

Zephaniah 1:4

1:4 “I will attack ⁴  Judah

and all who live in Jerusalem. ⁵ 

I will remove ⁶  from this place every trace of Baal worship, ⁷ 

as well as the very memory ⁸  of the pagan priests. ⁹ 

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, ¹⁰ 

those who think to themselves, ¹¹ 

‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ ¹² 

[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.

[3:16]  ² tn Heb “it will be said.” The passive construction has been translated as active for stylistic reasons.

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “your hands must not go limp.”

[1:4]  ³ tn Heb “I will stretch out my hand against,” is an idiom for hostile action.

[1:4]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “the remnant of Baal.”

[1:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “name.” Here the “name” is figurative for the memory of those who bear it.

[1:4]  ⁸ tc Heb “of the pagan priests and priests.” The first word (כְּמָרִים, kÿmarim) refers to idolatrous priests in its two other appearances in the OT (2 Kgs 23:5, Hos 10:5), while the second word (כֹּהֲנִים, kohanim) is the normal term for “priest” and is used of both legitimate and illegitimate priests in the OT. It is likely that the second term, which is omitted in the LXX, is a later scribal addition to the Hebrew text, defining the extremely rare word that precedes (see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 167-68; cf. also NEB, NRSV). Some argue that both words are original; among the modern English versions that include both are NASB and NIV. Possibly the first word refers to outright pagan priests, while the second has in view once-legitimate priests of the Lord who had drifted into idolatrous practices. Another option is found in Adele Berlin, who translates, “the idolatrous priests among the priests,” understanding the second word as giving the general category of which the idolatrous priests are a part (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 75).

[1:12]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”

[1:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “The Lord does not do good nor does he do evil.”