Zefanya 2:15

2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up ¹  –

the city that was so secure. ² 

She thought to herself, ³  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ⁴ 

What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live!

Everyone who passes by her taunts her ⁵  and shakes his fist. ⁶ 

Zefanya 3:6

The Lord’s Judgment will Purify

3:6 “I destroyed ⁷  nations;

their walled cities ⁸  are in ruins.

I turned their streets into ruins;

no one passes through them.

Their cities are desolate; ⁹ 

no one lives there. ¹⁰ 

Zefanya 2:6

2:6 The seacoast ¹¹  will be used as pasture lands ¹²  by the shepherds

and as pens for their flocks.

Zefanya 2:14

2:14 Flocks and herds ¹³  will lie down in the middle of it,

as well as every kind of wild animal. ¹⁴ 

Owls ¹⁵  will sleep in the tops of its support pillars;

they will hoot through the windows. ¹⁶ 

Rubble will cover the thresholds; ¹⁷ 

even the cedar work ¹⁸  will be exposed to the elements. ¹⁹ 

Zefanya 2:7

2:7 Those who are left from the kingdom of Judah ²⁰  will take possession of it. ²¹ 

By the sea ²²  they ²³  will graze,

in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening,

for the Lord their God will intervene for them ²⁴  and restore their prosperity. ²⁵ 

[2:15]  ¹ tn Heb “this is the proud city.”

[2:15]  ² tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”

[2:15]  ³ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[2:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”

[2:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”

[2:15]  ⁶ sn Hissing (or whistling) and shaking the fist were apparently ways of taunting a defeated foe or an object of derision in the culture of the time.

[3:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “corner towers”; NEB, NRSV “battlements.”

[3:6]  ⁹ tn This Hebrew verb (צָדָה, tsadah) occurs only here in the OT, but its meaning is established from the context and from an Aramaic cognate.

[3:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so that there is no man, without inhabitant.”

[2:6]  ¹¹ tn The NIV here supplies the phrase “where the Kerethites dwell” (“Kerethites” is translated in v. 5 as “the people who came from Crete”) as an interpretive gloss, but this phrase is not in the MT. The NAB likewise reads “the coastland of the Cretans,” supplying “Cretans” here.

[2:6]  ¹² tn The Hebrew phrase here is נְוֹת כְּרֹת (nÿvot kÿrot). The first word is probably a plural form of נָוָה (navah, “pasture”). The meaning of the second word is unclear. It may be a synonym of the preceding word (cf. NRSV “pastures, meadows for shepherds”); there is a word כַּר (kar, “pasture”) in biblical Hebrew, but elsewhere it forms its plural with a masculine ending. Some have suggested the meaning “wells” or “caves” used as shelters (cf. NEB “shepherds’ huts”); in this case, one might translate, “The seacoast will be used for pasturelands; for shepherds’ wells/caves.”

[2:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “flocks.” The Hebrew word can refer to both flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.

[2:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[and] all the wild animals of a nation.” How גוֹי (goy, “nation”) relates to what precedes is unclear. It may be a corruption of another word. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 193.

[2:14]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text reads here גַּם־קָאַת גַּם־קִפֹּד (gam-qa’at gam-qippod). The term קָאַת refers to some type of bird (see Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (Isa 34:11); one of the most common translations is “owl” (cf. NEB “horned owl”; NIV, NRSV “desert owl”; contra NASB “pelican”). The term קִפֹּד may also refer to a type of bird (cf. NEB “ruffed bustard”; NIV, NRSV “screech owl”). Some suggest a rodent may be in view (cf. NASB “hedgehog”); this is not unreasonable, for a rodent or some other small animal would be able to sleep in the tops of pillars which would be lying in the ruins of the fallen buildings.

[2:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a sound will sing in the window.” If some type of owl is in view, “hoot” is a more appropriate translation (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[2:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “rubble [will be] on the threshold.” “Rubble” translates the Hebrew word חֹרֶב (khorev, “desolation”). Some emend to עֹרֵב (’orev, “raven”) following the LXX and Vulgate; Adele Berlin translates, “A voice shall shriek from the window – a raven at the sill” (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 104).

[2:14]  ¹⁸ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “cedar work” (so NASB, NRSV) is unclear; NIV has “the beams of cedar.”

[2:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “one will expose.” The subject is probably indefinite, though one could translate, “for he [i.e., God] will lay bare.”

[2:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the remnant of the house of Judah.”

[2:7]  ²¹ tn Or “the coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah.”

[2:7]  ²² tc Heb “on them,” but the antecedent of the masculine pronoun is unclear. It may refer back to the “pasture lands,” though that noun is feminine. It is preferable to emend the text from עֲלֵיהֶם (’alehem) to עַל־הַיָּם (’al-hayyam, “by the sea”) an emendation that assumes a misdivision and transposition of letters in the MT (cf. NEB “They shall pasture their flocks by the sea”). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 192.

[2:7]  ²³ tn The referent of the pronominal subject (“they”) is unclear. It may refer (1) to the shepherds (in which case the first verb should be translated, “pasture their sheep,” cf. NEB), or (2) to the Judahites occupying the area, who are being compared to sheep (cf. NIV, “there they will find pasture”).

[2:7]  ²⁴ tn Or “will care for them.”

[2:7]  ²⁵ tn Traditionally, “restore their captivity,” i.e., bring back their captives, but it is more likely the expression means “restore their fortunes” in a more general sense (cf. NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).