Zefanya 3:6

The Lord’s Judgment will Purify

3:6 “I destroyed ¹  nations;

their walled cities ²  are in ruins.

I turned their streets into ruins;

no one passes through them.

Their cities are desolate; ³ 

no one lives there. ⁴ 

Zefanya 1:17

1:17 I will bring distress on the people ⁵ 

and they will stumble ⁶  like blind men,

for they have sinned against the Lord.

Their blood will be poured out like dirt;

their flesh ⁷  will be scattered ⁸  like manure.

Zefanya 2:15

2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up ⁹  –

the city that was so secure. ¹⁰ 

She thought to herself, ¹¹  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ¹² 

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

Everyone who passes by her taunts her ¹³  and shakes his fist. ¹⁴ 

[3:6]  ¹ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:6]  ² tn Heb “corner towers”; NEB, NRSV “battlements.”

[3:6]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “so that there is no man, without inhabitant.”

[1:17]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “walk.”

[1:17]  ⁷ tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).

[1:17]  ⁸ 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.

[2:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “this is the proud city.”

[2:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”

[2:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[2:15]  ¹² tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”

[2:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”

[2:15]  ¹⁴ 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.