Zefanya 2:2

2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality ¹  and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, ² 

before the Lord’s raging anger ³  overtakes ⁴  you –

before the day of the Lord’s angry judgment overtakes you!

Zefanya 1:1

Introduction

1:1 This is the prophetic message that the Lord gave to ⁵  Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah. Zephaniah delivered this message during the reign of ⁶  King Josiah son of Amon of Judah:

Zefanya 1:14

1:14 The Lord’s great day of judgment ⁷  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. ⁸ 

Zefanya 3:10

3:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, ⁹ 

those who pray to me ¹⁰  will bring me tribute.

Zefanya 1:6

1:6 and those who turn their backs on ¹¹  the Lord

and do not want the Lord’s help or guidance.” ¹² 

Zefanya 1:17

1:17 I will bring distress on the people ¹³ 

and they will stumble ¹⁴  like blind men,

for they have sinned against the Lord.

Their blood will be poured out like dirt;

their flesh ¹⁵  will be scattered ¹⁶  like manure.

Zefanya 1:3

1:3 “I will destroy people and animals;

I will destroy the birds in the sky

and the fish in the sea.

(The idolatrous images of these creatures will be destroyed along with evil people.) ¹⁷ 

I will remove ¹⁸  humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.

Zefanya 2:7

2:7 Those who are left from the kingdom of Judah ¹⁹  will take possession of it. ²⁰ 

By the sea ²¹  they ²²  will graze,

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

for the Lord their God will intervene for them ²³  and restore their prosperity. ²⁴ 

Zefanya 3:19-20

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

I will rescue the lame sheep ²⁵ 

and gather together the scattered sheep.

I will take away their humiliation

and make the whole earth admire and respect them. ²⁶ 

3:20 At that time I will lead you –

at the time I gather you together. ²⁷ 

Be sure of this! ²⁸  I will make all the nations of the earth respect and admire you ²⁹ 

when you see me restore you,” ³⁰  says the Lord.

[2:2]  ¹ tn Heb “before the giving birth of a decree.” For various alternative readings, see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 187-88.

[2:2]  ² tn The second half of the line reads literally, “like chaff it passes by a day.” The translation above assumes the “day” is the brief time God is giving the nation to repent. The comparison of this quickly passing opportunity to chaff is consistent with the straw imagery of v. 1.

[2:2]  ³ tn Heb “the fury of the anger of the Lord.” The synonyms are combined to emphasize the extreme degree of the Lord’s anger.

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “comes upon.” This phrase occurs twice in this verse.

[1:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “The word of the Lord which came to.”

[1:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the days of.” The words “Zephaniah delivered this message” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:14]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.

[3:10]  ⁹ tn Or “Nubia”; Heb “Cush.” “Cush” is traditionally assumed to refer to the region south of Egypt, i.e. Nubia or northern Sudan, referred to as “Ethiopia” by classical authors (not the more recent Abyssinia).

[3:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “those who pray to me, the daughter of my dispersed ones.” The meaning of the phrase is unclear. Perhaps the text is corrupt at this point or a proper name should be understood. For a discussion of various options see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 134-35.

[3:10]  sn It is not certain if those who pray to me refers to the converted nations or to God’s exiled covenant people.

[1:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “turn back from [following] after.”

[1:6]  ¹² tn Heb “who do not seek the Lord and do not inquire of him.” The present translation assumes the first verb refers to praying for divine help and the second to seeking his revealed will through an oracle. Note the usage of the two verbs in 2 Chr 20:3-4.

[1:17]  ¹³ tn “The people” refers to mankind in general (see vv. 2-3) or more specifically to the residents of Judah (see vv. 4-13).

[1:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “walk.”

[1:17]  ¹⁵ tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).

[1:17]  ¹⁶ tn The words “will be scattered” are supplied in the translation for clarity based on the parallelism with “will be poured out” in the previous line.

[1:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And the stumbling blocks [or, “ruins”] with the evil”; or “the things that make the evil stumble.” The line does not appear in the original form of the LXX; it may be a later scribal addition. The present translation assumes the “stumbling blocks” are idolatrous images of animals, birds, and fish. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 167, and Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB), 73-74.

[1:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “cut off.”

[2:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the remnant of the house of Judah.”

[2:7]  ²⁰ tn Or “the coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah.”

[2:7]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Or “will care for them.”

[2:7]  ²⁴ 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).

[3:19]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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.

[3:20]  ²⁷ tn In this line the second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that the exiles are addressed.

[3:20]  ²⁸ tn Or “for.”

[3:20]  ²⁹ tn Heb “I will make you into a name and praise among all the peoples of the earth.” Here the word “name” carries the nuance of “good reputation.”

[3:20]  ³⁰ tn Heb “when I restore your fortunes to your eyes.” See the note on the phrase “restore them” in 2:7.