Zefanya 3:3-4

3:3 Her princes ¹  are as fierce as roaring lions; ² 

her rulers ³  are as hungry as wolves in the desert, ⁴ 

who completely devour their prey by morning. ⁵ 

3:4 Her prophets are proud; ⁶ 

they are deceitful men.

Her priests defile what is holy; ⁷ 

they break God’s laws. ⁸ 

[3:3]  ¹ tn Or “officials.”

[3:3]  ² tn Heb “her princes in her midst are roaring lions.” The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as fierce as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ³ tn Traditionally “judges.”

[3:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “her judges [are] wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 128. The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as hungry as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “they do not gnaw [a bone] at morning.” The precise meaning of the line is unclear. The statement may mean these wolves devour their prey so completely that not even a bone is left to gnaw by the time morning arrives. For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 129.

[3:4]  ⁶ sn Applied to prophets, the word פֹּחֲזִים (pokhazim, “proud”) probably refers to their audacity in passing off their own words as genuine prophecies from the Lord (see Jer 23:32).

[3:4]  ⁷ tn Or “defile the temple.”

[3:4]  sn These priests defile what is holy by not observing the proper distinctions between what is ritually clean and unclean (see Ezek 22:26).

[3:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “they treat violently [the] law.”