Zephaniah 3:7

3:7 I thought, ¹  ‘Certainly you will respect ²  me!

Now you will accept correction!’

If she had done so, her home ³  would not be destroyed ⁴ 

by all the punishments I have threatened. ⁵ 

But they eagerly sinned

in everything they did. ⁶ 

Zephaniah 3:14

3:14 Shout for joy, Daughter Zion! ⁷ 

Shout out, Israel!

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

[3:7]  ¹ tn Heb “said.”

[3:7]  ² tn Or “fear.” The second person verb form (“you will respect”) is feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed.

[3:7]  ³ tn Or “dwelling place.”

[3:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “all which I have punished her.” The precise meaning of this statement and its relationship to what precedes are unclear.

[3:7]  ⁶ 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.

[3:14]  ⁷ 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.