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 

Zephaniah 3:1

Jerusalem is Corrupt

3:1 The filthy, ¹³  stained city is as good as dead;

the city filled with oppressors is finished! ¹⁴ 

Zephaniah 3:18

3:18 “As for those who grieve because they cannot attend the festivals –

I took them away from you;

they became tribute and were a source of shame to you. ¹⁵ 

Zephaniah 1:10

1:10 On that day,” says the Lord,

“a loud cry will go up ¹⁶  from the Fish Gate, ¹⁷ 

wailing from the city’s newer district, ¹⁸ 

and a loud crash ¹⁹  from the hills.

Zephaniah 3:7

3:7 I thought, ²⁰  ‘Certainly you will respect ²¹  me!

Now you will accept correction!’

If she had done so, her home ²²  would not be destroyed ²³ 

by all the punishments I have threatened. ²⁴ 

But they eagerly sinned

in everything they did. ²⁵ 

[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.”

[3:1]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[3:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “The ones grieving from an assembly I gathered from you they were, tribute upon her, a reproach.” Any translation of this difficult verse must be provisional at best. The present translation assumes three things: (1) The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to “assembly” is causal (the individuals are sorrowing because of the assemblies or festivals they are no longer able to hold). (2) מַשְׂאֵת (mas’et) means “tribute” and refers to the exiled people being treated as the spoils of warfare (see R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah [WEC], 385-86). (3) The third feminine singular suffix refers to personified Jerusalem, which is addressed earlier in the verse (the pronominal suffix in “from you” is second feminine singular). For other interpretive options see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 146.

[1:10]  ⁷ tn The words “will go up” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:10]  ⁸ sn The Fish Gate was located on Jerusalem’s north side (cf. 2 Chr 33:14; Neh 3:3; 12:39).

[1:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “from the second area.” This may refer to an area northwest of the temple where the rich lived (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 86; cf. NASB, NRSV “the Second Quarter”; NIV “the New Quarter”).

[1:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “great breaking.”

[3:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “said.”

[3:7]  ⁹ tn Or “fear.” The second person verb form (“you will respect”) is feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed.

[3:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “dwelling place.”

[3:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:7]  ¹² tn Heb “all which I have punished her.” The precise meaning of this statement and its relationship to what precedes are unclear.

[3:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “But they got up early, they made corrupt all their actions.” The phrase “they got up early” probably refers to their eagerness to engage in sinful activities.