Zefanya 1:1

Introduction

1:1 This is the prophetic message that the Lord gave to ¹  Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah. Zephaniah delivered this message during the reign of ²  King Josiah son of Amon of Judah:

Zefanya 1:5

1:5 I will remove ³  those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, ⁴ 

those who swear allegiance to the Lord ⁵  while taking oaths in the name of ⁶  their ‘king,’ ⁷ 

Zefanya 1:8

1:8 “On the day of the Lord’s sacrificial meal,

I will punish the princes ⁸  and the king’s sons,

and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. ⁹ 

Zefanya 1:10

1:10 On that day,” says the Lord,

“a loud cry will go up ¹⁰  from the Fish Gate, ¹¹ 

wailing from the city’s newer district, ¹² 

and a loud crash ¹³  from the hills.

Zefanya 1:15

1:15 That day will be a day of God’s anger, ¹⁴ 

a day of distress and hardship,

a day of devastation and ruin,

a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and dark skies,

Zefanya 2:5

2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ¹⁵  are as good as dead. ¹⁶ 

The Lord has decreed your downfall, ¹⁷  Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy everyone who lives there!” ¹⁸ 

[1:1]  ¹ tn Heb “The word of the Lord which came to.”

[1:1]  ² tn Heb “in the days of.” The words “Zephaniah delivered this message” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:5]  ³ tn The words “I will remove” are repeated from v. 4b for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 4b-6 contain a long list of objects for the verb “I will remove” in v. 4b. In the present translation a new sentence was begun at the beginning of v. 5 in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences.

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “those who worship on their roofs the host of heaven.” The “host of heaven” included the sun, moon, planets, and stars, all of which were deified in the ancient Near East.

[1:5]  ⁵ tc The MT reads, “those who worship, those who swear allegiance to the Lord.” The original form of the LXX omits the phrase “those who worship”; it may have been accidentally repeated from the preceding line. J. J. M. Roberts prefers to delete as secondary the phrase “those who swear allegiance” (J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 168).

[1:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “those who swear by.”

[1:5]  ⁷ tn The referent of “their king” is unclear. It may refer sarcastically to a pagan god (perhaps Baal) worshiped by the people. Some English versions (cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV) prefer to emend the text to “Milcom,” the name of an Ammonite god (following some LXX mss, Syriac, and Vulgate) or “Molech,” a god to whom the Israelites offered their children (cf. NIV, NLT). For a discussion of the options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 75-77.

[1:8]  ⁸ tn Or “officials” (NRSV, TEV); NLT “leaders.”

[1:8]  ⁹ sn The very dress of the royal court, foreign styles of clothing, revealed the degree to which Judah had assimilated foreign customs.

[1:10]  ¹⁰ tn The words “will go up” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:10]  ¹¹ sn The Fish Gate was located on Jerusalem’s north side (cf. 2 Chr 33:14; Neh 3:3; 12:39).

[1:10]  ¹² tn Heb “from the second area.” This may refer to an area northwest of the temple where the rich lived (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 86; cf. NASB, NRSV “the Second Quarter”; NIV “the New Quarter”).

[1:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “great breaking.”

[1:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a day of wrath.” The word “God’s” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:5]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is against you.”

[2:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will destroy you so there is no inhabitant [remaining].”