Yesaya 2:11

2:11 Proud men will be brought low,

arrogant men will be humiliated; ¹ 

the Lord alone will be exalted ² 

in that day.

Yeremia 48:26

48:26 “Moab has vaunted itself against me.

So make him drunk with the wine of my wrath ³ 

until he splashes ⁴  around in his own vomit,

until others treat him as a laughingstock.

Yeremia 48:29-30

48:29 I have heard how proud the people of Moab are,

I know how haughty they are.

I have heard how arrogant, proud, and haughty they are,

what a high opinion they have of themselves. ⁵ 

48:30 I, the Lord, affirm that ⁶  I know how arrogant they are.

But their pride is ill-founded.

Their boastings will prove to be false. ⁷ 

Yeremia 48:42

48:42 Moab will be destroyed and no longer be a nation, ⁸ 

because she has vaunted herself against the Lord.

Amos 2:1

2:1 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Moab has committed three crimes ⁹  –

make that four! ¹⁰  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ¹¹ 

They burned the bones of Edom’s king into lime. ¹² 

Obaja 1:3-4

1:3 Your presumptuous heart ¹³  has deceived you –

you who reside in the safety of the rocky cliffs, ¹⁴ 

whose home is high in the mountains. ¹⁵ 

You think to yourself, ¹⁶ 

‘No one can ¹⁷  bring me down to the ground!’ ¹⁸ 

1:4 Even if you were to soar high like an eagle, ¹⁹ 

even if you ²⁰  were to make your nest among the stars,

I can bring you down even from there!” says the Lord.

Zefanya 2:9-10

2:9 Therefore, as surely as I live,” says the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel,

“be certain that Moab will become like Sodom

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.

They will be overrun by weeds, ²¹ 

filled with salt pits, ²² 

and permanently desolate.

Those of my people who are left ²³  will plunder their belongings; ²⁴ 

those who are left in Judah ²⁵  will take possession of their land.”

2:10 This is how they will be repaid for their arrogance, ²⁶ 

for they taunted and verbally harassed ²⁷  the people of the Lord who commands armies.

Zefanya 2:1

The Prophet Warns the People

2:1 Bunch yourselves together like straw, ²⁸  you undesirable ²⁹  nation,

Pengkhotbah 5:5

5:5 It is better for you not to vow

than to vow and not pay it. ³⁰ 

[2:11]  ¹ tn Heb “and the eyes of the pride of men will be brought low, and the arrogance of men will be brought down.” The repetition of the verbs שָׁפַל (shafal) and שָׁחָח (shakhakh) from v. 9 draws attention to the appropriate nature of the judgment. Those proud men who “bow low” before idols will be forced to “bow low” before God when he judges their sin.

[2:11]  ² tn Or “elevated”; CEV “honored.”

[48:26]  ³ tn Heb “Make him drunk because he has magnified himself against the Lord.” The first person has again been adopted for consistency within a speech of the Lord. Almost all of the commentaries relate the figure of drunkenness to the figure of drinking the cup of God’s wrath spelled out in Jer 25 where reference is made at one point to the nations drinking, staggering, vomiting, and falling (25:27 and see G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 316, for a full list of references to this figure including this passage and 49:12-13; 51:6-10, 39, 57).

[48:26]  ⁴ tn The meaning of this word is uncertain. It is usually used of clapping the hands or the thigh in helpless anger or disgust. Hence J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 321) paraphrases “shall vomit helplessly.” HALOT 722 s.v. II סָפַק relates this to an Aramaic word and see a homonym meaning “vomit” or “spew out.” The translation is that of BDB 706 s.v. סָפַק Qal.3, “splash (fall with a splash),” from the same root that refers to slapping or clapping the thigh.

[48:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “We have heard of the pride of Moab – [he is] exceedingly proud – of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his haughtiness, and the loftiness of his heart.” These words are essentially all synonyms, three of them coming from the same Hebrew root (גָּאָה, ga’ah) and one of the words being used twice (גָּאוֹן). Since the first person singular is used in the next verse, the present translation considers the “we” of this verse to refer to the plural of majesty or the plural referring to the divine council in such passages as Gen 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Isa 6:8 and has translated in the singular to avoid possible confusion of who the “we” are. Most understand the reference to be to Jeremiah and his fellow Judeans.

[48:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[48:30]  ⁷ tn The meaning of this verse is somewhat uncertain: Heb “I know, oracle of the Lord,/ his arrogance and [that it is?] not true; // his boastings accomplish that which is not true.” Several of the modern English versions and commentaries redivide the verse and read something like, “I know his insolence…his boastings are false; his deeds are false (NRSV, REB).” However, the word translated “deeds” in the last line is a verb in the third person plural and can only have as its logical grammatical subject the word “boastings.” The adjective כֵּן (ken) + the negative לֹא (lo’) is evidently repeated here and applied to two different subjects “arrogance” and “boasting” to emphasize that Moab’s arrogant boasts will prove “untrue” (Cf. HALOT 459 s.v. II כֵּן 2.c for the meaning “untrue” for both this passage and the parallel one in Isa 16:6). There is some difference of opinion about the identification of the “I” in this verse. Most commentators see it as referring to the prophet. However, F. B. Huey (Jeremiah, Lamentations [NAC], 395) is probably correct in seeing it as referring to the Lord. He points to the fact that the “I” in vv. 33, 35, 38 can only refer to God. The “I know” in v. 30 also clearly has the Lord as its subject. There are other cases in the book of Jeremiah where the Lord expresses his lament over the fate of a people (cf. 14:1-6, 17-18).

[48:42]  ⁸ tn Heb “Moab will be destroyed from [being] a people.”

[2:1]  ⁹ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Because of three violations of Moab, even because of four.”

[2:1]  sn On the three…four style that introduces each of the judgment oracles of chaps. 1-2 see the note on the word “four” in 1:3.

[2:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.

[2:1]  ¹² sn The Moabites apparently desecrated the tomb of an Edomite king and burned his bones into a calcined substance which they then used as plaster (cf. Deut 27:2, 4). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 72. Receiving a proper burial was very important in this culture. Desecrating a tomb or a deceased individual’s bones was considered an especially heinous act.

[1:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “the presumption of your heart”; NAB, NIV “the pride of your heart”; NASB “arrogance of your heart.”

[1:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the concealed places of the rock”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “in the clefts of the rock”; NCV “the hollow places of the cliff”; CEV “a mountain fortress.”

[1:3]  sn The word rock in Hebrew (סֶלַע, sela’) is a wordplay on Sela, the name of a prominent Edomite city. Its impregnability was a cause for arrogance on the part of its ancient inhabitants.

[1:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “on high (is) his dwelling”; NASB “in the loftiness of your dwelling place”; NRSV “whose dwelling (abode NAB) is in the heights.”

[1:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the one who says in his heart.”

[1:3]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew imperfect verb used here is best understood in a modal sense (“Who can bring me down?”) rather than in the sense of a simple future (“Who will bring me down?”). So also in v. 4 (“I can bring you down”). The question is not so much whether this will happen at some time in the future, but whether it even lies in the realm of possible events. In their hubris the Edomites were boasting that no one had the capability of breaching their impregnable defenses. However, their pride caused them to fail to consider the vast capabilities of Yahweh as warrior.

[1:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Who can bring me down?” This rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “No one!”

[1:4]  ¹⁹ sn The eagle was often used in the ancient Near East as a symbol of strength and swiftness.

[1:4]  ²⁰ tc The present translation follows the reading תָּשִׂים (tasim; active) rather than שִׁים (sim; passive) of the MT (“and your nest be set among the stars,” NAB). Cf. LXX, Syriac, Vg.

[2:9]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew text reads מִמְשַׁק חָרוּל (mimshaq kharul, “[?] of weeds”). The meaning of the first word is unknown. The present translation (“They will be overrun by weeds”) is speculative, based on the general sense of the context. For a defense of “overrun” on linguistic grounds, see R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 347. Cf. NEB “a pile of weeds”; NIV “a place of weeds”; NRSV “a land possessed by nettles.”

[2:9]  ²² tn The Hebrew text reads וּמִכְרֵה־מֶלַח (umikhreh-melakh, “and a [?] of salt”). The meaning of the first word is unclear, though “pit” (NASB, NIV, NRSV; NKJV “saltpit”), “mine,” and “heap” (cf. NEB “a rotting heap of saltwort”) are all options. The words “filled with” are supplied for clarification.

[2:9]  ²³ tn Or “The remnant of my people.”

[2:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “them.” The actual object of the plundering, “their belongings,” has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “[the] nation.” For clarity the “nation” has been specified as “Judah” in the translation.

[2:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “this is for them in place of their arrogance.”

[2:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “made great [their mouth?] against” (cf. the last phrase of v. 8).

[2:1]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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.”

[5:5]  ³⁰ tn The word “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.