Zefanya 1:7

1:7 Be silent before the Lord God, ¹ 

for the Lord’s day of judgment ²  is almost here. ³ 

The Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal; ⁴ 

he has ritually purified ⁵  his guests.

Zefanya 2:9

2:9 Therefore, as surely as I live,” says the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel,

“be certain that Moab will become like Sodom

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.

They will be overrun by weeds, ⁶ 

filled with salt pits, ⁷ 

and permanently desolate.

Those of my people who are left ⁸  will plunder their belongings; ⁹ 

those who are left in Judah ¹⁰  will take possession of their land.”

Zefanya 3:7

3:7 I thought, ¹¹  ‘Certainly you will respect ¹²  me!

Now you will accept correction!’

If she had done so, her home ¹³  would not be destroyed ¹⁴ 

by all the punishments I have threatened. ¹⁵ 

But they eagerly sinned

in everything they did. ¹⁶ 

Zefanya 3:19

3:19 Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you.

I will rescue the lame sheep ¹⁷ 

and gather together the scattered sheep.

I will take away their humiliation

and make the whole earth admire and respect them. ¹⁸ 

[1:7]  ¹ tn Heb “Lord Lord.” The phrase אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה (adonai yÿhvih) is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God.”

[1:7]  ² tn Heb “the day of the Lord.”

[1:7]  sn The origin of the concept of “the day of the Lord” is uncertain. It may have originated in the ancient Near Eastern idea of the sovereign’s day of conquest, where a king would boast that he had concluded an entire military campaign in a single day (see D. Stuart, “The Sovereign’s Day of Conquest,” BASOR 221 [1976]: 159-64). In the OT the expression is applied to several acts of divine judgment, some historical and others still future (see A. J. Everson, “The Days of Yahweh,” JBL 93 [1974]: 329-37). In the OT the phrase first appears in Amos (assuming that Amos predates Joel and Obadiah), where it seems to refer to a belief on the part of the northern kingdom that God would intervene on Israel’s behalf and judge the nation’s enemies. Amos affirms that the Lord’s day of judgment is indeed approaching, but he declares that it will be a day of disaster, not deliverance, for Israel. Here in Zephaniah, the “day of the Lord” includes God’s coming judgment of Judah, as well as a more universal outpouring of divine anger.

[1:7]  ³ tn Or “near.”

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “a sacrifice.” This same word also occurs in the following verse.

[1:7]  sn Because a sacrificial meal presupposes the slaughter of animals, it is used here as a metaphor of the bloody judgment to come.

[1:7]  ⁵ tn Or “consecrated” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[2:9]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text reads מִמְשַׁק חָרוּל (mimshaq kharul, “[?] of weeds”). The meaning of the first word is unknown. The present translation (“They will be overrun by weeds”) is speculative, based on the general sense of the context. For a defense of “overrun” on linguistic grounds, see R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 347. Cf. NEB “a pile of weeds”; NIV “a place of weeds”; NRSV “a land possessed by nettles.”

[2:9]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text reads וּמִכְרֵה־מֶלַח (umikhreh-melakh, “and a [?] of salt”). The meaning of the first word is unclear, though “pit” (NASB, NIV, NRSV; NKJV “saltpit”), “mine,” and “heap” (cf. NEB “a rotting heap of saltwort”) are all options. The words “filled with” are supplied for clarification.

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Or “The remnant of my people.”

[2:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “them.” The actual object of the plundering, “their belongings,” has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[the] nation.” For clarity the “nation” has been specified as “Judah” in the translation.

[3:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “said.”

[3:7]  ¹² tn Or “fear.” The second person verb form (“you will respect”) is feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed.

[3:7]  sn God’s judgment of the nations (v. 6) was an object lesson for Israel’s benefit.

[3:7]  ¹³ tn Or “dwelling place.”

[3:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all which I have punished her.” The precise meaning of this statement and its relationship to what precedes are unclear.

[3:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “But they got up early, they made corrupt all their actions.” The phrase “they got up early” probably refers to their eagerness to engage in sinful activities.

[3:19]  ¹⁷ tn The word “sheep” is supplied for clarification. As in Mic 4:6-7, the exiles are here pictured as injured and scattered sheep whom the divine shepherd rescues from danger.

[3:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will make them into praise and a name, in all the earth, their shame.” The present translation assumes that “their shame” specifies “them” and that “name” stands here for a good reputation.