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 2:13

2:13 The Lord ³  will attack the north ⁴ 

and destroy Assyria.

He will make Nineveh a heap of ruins;

it will be as barren ⁵  as the desert.

[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.

[2:13]  ³ tn Heb “He”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “he will stretch out his hand against the north.”

[2:13]  ⁵ tn Or “dry.”