Zephaniah 3:2-4

Context

3:2 She is disobedient;¹

she refuses correction.²

She does not trust the Lord;

she does not seek the advice of³ her God.

3:3 Her princes⁴ are as fierce as roaring lions;⁵

her rulers⁶ are as hungry as wolves in the desert,⁷

who completely devour their prey by morning.⁸

3:4 Her prophets are proud;⁹

they are deceitful men.

Her priests defile what is holy;¹⁰

they break God’s laws.¹¹

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

[3:2] ²tn 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] ³tn 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).

[3:3] ⁴tn Or “officials.”

[3:3] ⁵tn Heb “her princes in her midst are roaring lions.” The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as fierce as”) for clarity.

[3:3] ⁶tn Traditionally “judges.”

[3:3] ⁷tn 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] ⁸tn 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.

[3:4] ⁷sn Applied to prophets, the word פֹּחֲזִים (pokhazim, “proud”) probably refers to their audacity in passing off their own words as genuine prophecies from the Lord (see Jer 23:32).

[3:4] ⁸tn Or “defile the temple.”

[3:4] ⁹tn Heb “they treat violently [the] law.”