Zephaniah 3:6

The Lord’s Judgment will Purify

3:6 “I destroyed ¹  nations;

their walled cities ²  are in ruins.

I turned their streets into ruins;

no one passes through them.

Their cities are desolate; ³ 

no one lives there. ⁴ 

Zephaniah 3:9

3:9 Know for sure that I will then enable

the nations to give me acceptable praise. ⁵ 

All of them will invoke the Lord’s name when they pray, ⁶ 

and will worship him in unison. ⁷ 

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.”

Zephaniah 3:10

3:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, ¹⁰ 

those who pray to me ¹¹  will bring me tribute.

Zephaniah 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ¹² 

for ¹³  he will weaken ¹⁴  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ¹⁵ 

Zephaniah 2:15

2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up ¹⁶  –

the city that was so secure. ¹⁷ 

She thought to herself, ¹⁸  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ¹⁹ 

What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live!

Everyone who passes by her taunts her ²⁰  and shakes his fist. ²¹ 

Zephaniah 3:17

3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst;

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; ²² 

he renews you by his love; ²³ 

he shouts for joy over you.” ²⁴ 

Zephaniah 3:2

3:2 She is disobedient; ²⁵ 

she refuses correction. ²⁶ 

She does not trust the Lord;

she does not seek the advice of ²⁷  her God.

Zephaniah 3:11

3:11 In that day you ²⁸  will not be ashamed of all your rebelliousness against me, ²⁹ 

for then I will remove from your midst those who proudly boast, ³⁰ 

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

Zephaniah 2:5

2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ³¹  are as good as dead. ³² 

The Lord has decreed your downfall, ³³  Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy everyone who lives there!” ³⁴ 

Zephaniah 3:19

3:19 Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you.

I will rescue the lame sheep ³⁵ 

and gather together the scattered sheep.

I will take away their humiliation

and make the whole earth admire and respect them. ³⁶ 

Zephaniah 3:5

3:5 The just Lord resides ³⁷  within her;

he commits no unjust acts. ³⁸ 

Every morning he reveals ³⁹  his justice.

At dawn he appears without fail. ⁴⁰ 

Yet the unjust know no shame.

Zephaniah 1:13

1:13 Their wealth will be stolen

and their houses ruined!

They will not live in the houses they have built,

nor will they drink the wine from the vineyards they have planted.

Zephaniah 2:3

2:3 Seek the Lord’s favor, ⁴¹  all you humble people ⁴²  of the land who have obeyed his commands! ⁴³ 

Strive to do what is right! ⁴⁴  Strive to be humble! ⁴⁵ 

Maybe you will be protected ⁴⁶  on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

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 ⁴⁷  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ⁴⁸ 

Indeed, ⁴⁹  he will bring terrifying destruction ⁵⁰  on all who live on the earth.” ⁵¹ 

[3:6]  ¹ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:6]  ² tn Heb “corner towers”; NEB, NRSV “battlements.”

[3:6]  ³ tn This Hebrew verb (צָדָה, tsadah) occurs only here in the OT, but its meaning is established from the context and from an Aramaic cognate.

[3:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “so that there is no man, without inhabitant.”

[3:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “Certainly [or perhaps, “For”] then I will restore to the nations a pure lip.”

[3:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “so that all of them will call on the name of the Lord.”

[3:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “so that [they] will serve him [with] one shoulder.”

[3:13]  ⁹ tn Or “the remnant of Israel.”

[3:13]  ¹⁰ tn The words “peacefully like sheep” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:10]  ¹³ tn Or “Nubia”; Heb “Cush.” “Cush” is traditionally assumed to refer to the region south of Egypt, i.e. Nubia or northern Sudan, referred to as “Ethiopia” by classical authors (not the more recent Abyssinia).

[3:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “those who pray to me, the daughter of my dispersed ones.” The meaning of the phrase is unclear. Perhaps the text is corrupt at this point or a proper name should be understood. For a discussion of various options see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 134-35.

[2:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  ¹⁹ tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”

[2:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”

[2:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “this is the proud city.”

[2:15]  ²² tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”

[2:15]  ²³ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[2:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”

[2:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”

[2:15]  ²⁶ sn Hissing (or whistling) and shaking the fist were apparently ways of taunting a defeated foe or an object of derision in the culture of the time.

[3:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

[3:17]  ²⁶ tc The MT reads, “he is silent in his love,” but this makes no sense in light of the immediately preceding and following lines. Some take the Hiphil verb form as causative (see Job 11:3) rather than intransitive and translate, “he causes [you] to be silent by his love,” that is, “he soothes [you] by his love.” The present translation follows the LXX and assumes an original reading יְחַדֵּשׁ (yÿkhaddesh, “he renews”) with ellipsis of the object (“you”).

[3:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”

[3:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “she does not hear a voice” Refusing to listen is equated with disobedience.

[3:2]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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).

[3:11]  ³³ sn The second person verbs and pronouns are feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed here.

[3:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “In that day you not be ashamed because of all your actions, [in] which you rebelled against me.”

[3:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the arrogant ones of your pride.”

[2:5]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Kerethites,” a people settled alongside the Philistines in the coastal areas of southern Palestine (cf. 1 Sam 30:14; Ezek 25:16). They originally came from the island of Crete.

[2:5]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Woe, inhabitants of the coast of the sea, nation of Kerethites.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), is used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5). By using it here the prophet mourns in advance the downfall of the Philistines, thereby emphasizing the certainty of their demise (“as good as dead”). Some argue the word does not have its earlier connotation here and is simply an attention-getting interjection, equivalent to “Hey!”

[2:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is against you.”

[2:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “I will destroy you so there is no inhabitant [remaining].”

[3:19]  ⁴¹ tn The word “sheep” is supplied for clarification. As in Mic 4:6-7, the exiles are here pictured as injured and scattered sheep whom the divine shepherd rescues from danger.

[3:19]  ⁴² tn Heb “I will make them into praise and a name, in all the earth, their shame.” The present translation assumes that “their shame” specifies “them” and that “name” stands here for a good reputation.

[3:5]  ⁴⁵ tn The word “resides” is supplied for clarification.

[3:5]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “he does no injustice.”

[3:5]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “gives”; or “dispenses.”

[3:5]  ⁴⁸ 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.”

[2:3]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “seek the Lord,” but “favor” seems to be implied from the final line of the verse.

[2:3]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “poor.” The precise referent of this Hebrew term is unclear. The word may refer to the economically poor or to the spiritually humble.

[2:3]  ⁵¹ tn The present translation assumes the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here refers to God’s covenantal requirements and is a synonym for the Law. The word can mean “justice” and could refer more specifically to the principles of justice contained in the Law. In this case the phrase could be translated, “who have promoted the justice God demands.”

[2:3]  ⁵² tn Heb “Seek what is right.”

[2:3]  ⁵³ tn Heb “Seek humility.”

[2:3]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “hidden.” Cf. NEB “it may be that you will find shelter”; NRSV “perhaps you may be hidden.”

[1:18]  ⁵³ tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

[1:18]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

[1:18]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “for.”

[1:18]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

[1:18]  ⁵⁷ 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).