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 3:9

3:9 Know for sure that I will then enable

the nations to give me acceptable praise. ⁷ 

All of them will invoke the Lord’s name when they pray, ⁸ 

and will worship him in unison. ⁹ 

Zefanya 3:12

3:12 I will leave in your midst a humble and meek group of people, ¹⁰ 

and they will find safety in the Lord’s presence. ¹¹ 

Zefanya 1:18

1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them

in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

The whole earth ¹²  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ¹³ 

Indeed, ¹⁴  he will bring terrifying destruction ¹⁵  on all who live on the earth.” ¹⁶ 

Zefanya 1:8

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

I will punish the princes ¹⁷  and the king’s sons,

and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. ¹⁸ 

Zefanya 3:13

3:13 The Israelites who remain ¹⁹  will not act deceitfully.

They will not lie,

and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth.

Indeed, they will graze peacefully like sheep ²⁰  and lie down;

no one will terrify them.”

Zefanya 3:17

3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst;

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; ²¹ 

he renews you by his love; ²² 

he shouts for joy over you.” ²³ 

[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.

[3:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “Certainly [or perhaps, “For”] then I will restore to the nations a pure lip.”

[3:9]  sn I will then enable the nations to give me acceptable praise. This apparently refers to a time when the nations will reject their false idol-gods and offer genuine praise to the one true God.

[3:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “so that all of them will call on the name of the Lord.”

[3:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “so that [they] will serve him [with] one shoulder.”

[3:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “needy and poor people.” The terms often refer to a socioeconomic group, but here they may refer to those who are humble in a spiritual sense.

[3:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord.”

[3:12]  sn Safety in the Lord’s presence. From the time the Lord introduced his special covenant name (Yahweh) to Moses, it served as a reminder of his protective presence as Israel’s faithful deliverer.

[1:18]  ¹² tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

[1:18]  ¹³ tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

[1:18]  ¹⁴ tn Or “for.”

[1:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

[1:18]  ¹⁶ tn It is not certain where the Lord’s words end and the prophet’s words begin. It is possible that Zephaniah begins speaking in the middle of v. 17 or at the beginning of v. 18 (note the third person pronouns referring to the Lord).

[1:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “officials” (NRSV, TEV); NLT “leaders.”

[1:8]  ¹⁸ sn The very dress of the royal court, foreign styles of clothing, revealed the degree to which Judah had assimilated foreign customs.

[3:13]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the remnant of Israel.”

[3:13]  ²⁰ tn The words “peacefully like sheep” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

[3:17]  ²² tc The MT reads, “he is silent in his love,” but this makes no sense in light of the immediately preceding and following lines. Some take the Hiphil verb form as causative (see Job 11:3) rather than intransitive and translate, “he causes [you] to be silent by his love,” that is, “he soothes [you] by his love.” The present translation follows the LXX and assumes an original reading יְחַדֵּשׁ (yÿkhaddesh, “he renews”) with ellipsis of the object (“you”).

[3:17]  ²³ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”