Zefanya 1:14

1:14 The Lord’s great day of judgment ¹  is almost here;

it is approaching very rapidly!

There will be a bitter sound on the Lord’s day of judgment;

at that time warriors will cry out in battle. ² 

Zefanya 2:5

2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ³  are as good as dead. ⁴ 

The Lord has decreed your downfall, ⁵  Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy everyone who lives there!” ⁶ 

Zefanya 2:8

2:8 “I have heard Moab’s taunts

and the Ammonites’ insults.

They ⁷  taunted my people

and verbally harassed those living in Judah. ⁸ 

[1:14]  ¹ tn Heb “The great day of the Lord.” The words “of judgment” are supplied in the translation here and later in this verse for clarity. See the note on the expression “day of judgment” in v. 7.

[1:14]  ² tn Heb “the sound of the day of the Lord, bitter [is] one crying out there, a warrior.” The present translation does four things: (1) It takes מַר (mar, “bitter”) with what precedes (contrary to the accentuation of the MT). (2) It understands the participle צָרַח (tsarakh, “cry out in battle”) as verbal with “warrior” as its subject. (3) It takes שָׁם (sham, “there”) in a temporal sense, meaning “then, at that time.” (4) It understands “warrior” as collective.

[2:5]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is against you.”

[2:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will destroy you so there is no inhabitant [remaining].”

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they made great [their mouth?] against their territory.” Other possible translation options include (1) “they enlarged their own territory” (cf. NEB) and (2) “they bragged about [the size] of their own territory.”