Mazmur 37:7

37:7 Wait patiently for the Lord! ¹ 

Wait confidently ²  for him!

Do not fret over the apparent success of a sinner, ³ 

a man who carries out wicked schemes!

Habakuk 2:20

2:20 But the Lord is in his majestic palace. ⁴ 

The whole earth is speechless in his presence!” ⁵ 

Zefanya 1:7

1:7 Be silent before the Lord God, ⁶ 

for the Lord’s day of judgment ⁷  is almost here. ⁸ 

The Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal; ⁹ 

he has ritually purified ¹⁰  his guests.

Zakharia 2:13

2:13 Be silent in the Lord’s presence, all people everywhere, ¹¹  for he is being moved to action in his holy dwelling place. ¹² 

[37:7]  ¹ tn Heb “Be quiet before the Lord!”

[37:7]  ² tc The Hebrew text has וְהִתְחוֹלֵל (vÿhitkholel, Hitpolel of חִיל, khil, “writhe with fear, suffer”) but this idea fits awkwardly here. The text should be changed to וְתוֹחֵל (vÿtokhel; Hiphil of יָחַל, yakhal, “wait”). It appears that the Hebrew text is the product of dittography: (1) the initial וה (vav-he) is accidentally repeated from the preceding word (יְהוָה, yÿhvah) and (2) the final lamed (ל) is accidentally repeated (note the preceding lamed and the initial lamed on the following form, לו).

[37:7]  ³ tn Heb “over one who causes his way to be successful.”

[2:20]  ⁴ tn Or “holy temple.” The Lord’s heavenly palace, rather than the earthly temple, is probably in view here (see Ps 11:4; Mic 1:2-3). The Hebrew word ֹקדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) here refers to the sovereign transcendence associated with his palace.

[2:20]  ⁵ tn Or “Be quiet before him, all the earth!”

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “Lord Lord.” The phrase אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה (adonai yÿhvih) is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God.”

[1:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “the day of the Lord.”

[1:7]  sn The origin of the concept of “the day of the Lord” is uncertain. It may have originated in the ancient Near Eastern idea of the sovereign’s day of conquest, where a king would boast that he had concluded an entire military campaign in a single day (see D. Stuart, “The Sovereign’s Day of Conquest,” BASOR 221 [1976]: 159-64). In the OT the expression is applied to several acts of divine judgment, some historical and others still future (see A. J. Everson, “The Days of Yahweh,” JBL 93 [1974]: 329-37). In the OT the phrase first appears in Amos (assuming that Amos predates Joel and Obadiah), where it seems to refer to a belief on the part of the northern kingdom that God would intervene on Israel’s behalf and judge the nation’s enemies. Amos affirms that the Lord’s day of judgment is indeed approaching, but he declares that it will be a day of disaster, not deliverance, for Israel. Here in Zephaniah, the “day of the Lord” includes God’s coming judgment of Judah, as well as a more universal outpouring of divine anger.

[1:7]  ⁸ tn Or “near.”

[1:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “a sacrifice.” This same word also occurs in the following verse.

[1:7]  sn Because a sacrificial meal presupposes the slaughter of animals, it is used here as a metaphor of the bloody judgment to come.

[1:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “consecrated” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[2:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all flesh”; NAB, NIV “all mankind.”

[2:13]  ¹² sn The sense here is that God in heaven is about to undertake an occupation of his earthly realm (v. 12) by restoring his people to the promised land.