Zefanya 1:13

1:13 Their wealth will be stolen

and their houses ruined!

They will not live in the houses they have built,

nor will they drink the wine from the vineyards they have planted.

Zefanya 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ¹ 

for ²  he will weaken ³  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ⁴ 

Zefanya 2:13

2:13 The Lord ⁵  will attack the north ⁶ 

and destroy Assyria.

He will make Nineveh a heap of ruins;

it will be as barren ⁷  as the desert.

Zefanya 3:15

3:15 The Lord has removed the judgment against you; ⁸ 

he has turned back your enemy.

Israel’s king, the Lord, is in your midst!

You no longer need to fear disaster.

[2:11]  ¹ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ² tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  ³ tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”

[2:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”

[2:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “He”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “he will stretch out his hand against the north.”

[2:13]  ⁷ tn Or “dry.”

[3:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “your judgments,” that is, “the judgments directed against you.” The translation reflects the implications of the parallelism.