Zephaniah 3:2

3:2 She is disobedient; ¹ 

she refuses correction. ² 

She does not trust the Lord;

she does not seek the advice of ³  her God.

Zephaniah 2:1

The Prophet Warns the People

2:1 Bunch yourselves together like straw, ⁴  you undesirable ⁵  nation,

Zephaniah 3:5

3:5 The just Lord resides ⁶  within her;

he commits no unjust acts. ⁷ 

Every morning he reveals ⁸  his justice.

At dawn he appears without fail. ⁹ 

Yet the unjust know no shame.

Zephaniah 1:6

1:6 and those who turn their backs on ¹⁰  the Lord

and do not want the Lord’s help or guidance.” ¹¹ 

Zephaniah 3:3

3:3 Her princes ¹²  are as fierce as roaring lions; ¹³ 

her rulers ¹⁴  are as hungry as wolves in the desert, ¹⁵ 

who completely devour their prey by morning. ¹⁶ 

Zephaniah 2:2

2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality ¹⁷  and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, ¹⁸ 

before the Lord’s raging anger ¹⁹  overtakes ²⁰  you –

before the day of the Lord’s angry judgment overtakes you!

Zephaniah 3:15

3:15 The Lord has removed the judgment against you; ²¹ 

he has turned back your enemy.

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

You no longer need to fear disaster.

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, ²² 

those who think to themselves, ²³ 

‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ ²⁴ 

Zephaniah 1:18

1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them

in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

The whole earth ²⁵  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ²⁶ 

Indeed, ²⁷  he will bring terrifying destruction ²⁸  on all who live on the earth.” ²⁹ 

Zephaniah 3:11

3:11 In that day you ³⁰  will not be ashamed of all your rebelliousness against me, ³¹ 

for then I will remove from your midst those who proudly boast, ³² 

and you will never again be arrogant on my holy hill.

Zephaniah 3:13

3:13 The Israelites who remain ³³  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 ³⁴  and lie down;

no one will terrify them.”

[3:2]  ¹ tn Heb “she does not hear a voice” Refusing to listen is equated with disobedience.

[3:2]  ² tn Heb “she does not receive correction.” The Hebrew phrase, when negated, refers elsewhere to rejecting verbal advice (Jer 17:23; 32:33; 35:13) and refusing to learn from experience (Jer 2:30; 5:3).

[3:2]  ³ tn Heb “draw near to.” The present translation assumes that the expression “draw near to” refers to seeking God’s will (see 1 Sam 14:36).

[2:1]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text combines a Hitpolel imperative of קָשַׁשׁ (qashash) with a Qal imperative of the same root. Elsewhere this root appears in the polel stem with the meaning “gather stubble.” Zephaniah’s command is ironic, implying the people are like stubble or straw. As such, they are vulnerable to the Lord’s fiery judgment that will quickly consume them (see 1:18). See Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 96.

[2:1]  ⁵ tn Some relate this word to an Aramaic cognate meaning “to be ashamed.” With the negative particle it would then mean “unashamed” (cf. NIV “shameful”; NRSV “shameless”). However, elsewhere in biblical Hebrew the verb means “to desire,” or with the negative particle “undesirable.” Cf. also NEB “unruly.”

[3:5]  ⁷ tn The word “resides” is supplied for clarification.

[3:5]  ⁸ tn Or “he does no injustice.”

[3:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “gives”; or “dispenses.”

[3:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “at the light he is not missing.” Note that NASB (which capitalizes pronouns referring to Deity) has divided the lines differently: “Every morning He brings His justice to light; // He does not fail.”

[1:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “turn back from [following] after.”

[1:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “who do not seek the Lord and do not inquire of him.” The present translation assumes the first verb refers to praying for divine help and the second to seeking his revealed will through an oracle. Note the usage of the two verbs in 2 Chr 20:3-4.

[3:3]  ¹³ tn Or “officials.”

[3:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “her princes in her midst are roaring lions.” The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as fierce as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ¹⁵ tn Traditionally “judges.”

[3:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “her judges [are] wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 128. The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as hungry as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they do not gnaw [a bone] at morning.” The precise meaning of the line is unclear. The statement may mean these wolves devour their prey so completely that not even a bone is left to gnaw by the time morning arrives. For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 129.

[2:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “before the giving birth of a decree.” For various alternative readings, see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 187-88.

[2:2]  ¹⁷ tn The second half of the line reads literally, “like chaff it passes by a day.” The translation above assumes the “day” is the brief time God is giving the nation to repent. The comparison of this quickly passing opportunity to chaff is consistent with the straw imagery of v. 1.

[2:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the fury of the anger of the Lord.” The synonyms are combined to emphasize the extreme degree of the Lord’s anger.

[2:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “comes upon.” This phrase occurs twice in this verse.

[3:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “your judgments,” that is, “the judgments directed against you.” The translation reflects the implications of the parallelism.

[1:12]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”

[1:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “The Lord does not do good nor does he do evil.”

[1:18]  ²⁵ tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

[1:18]  ²⁶ tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

[1:18]  ²⁷ tn Or “for.”

[1:18]  ²⁸ tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

[1:18]  ²⁹ tn It is not certain where the Lord’s words end and the prophet’s words begin. It is possible that Zephaniah begins speaking in the middle of v. 17 or at the beginning of v. 18 (note the third person pronouns referring to the Lord).

[3:11]  ²⁸ sn The second person verbs and pronouns are feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed here.

[3:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “In that day you not be ashamed because of all your actions, [in] which you rebelled against me.”

[3:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the arrogant ones of your pride.”

[3:13]  ³¹ tn Or “the remnant of Israel.”

[3:13]  ³² tn The words “peacefully like sheep” are supplied in the translation for clarification.