Zefanya 3:9

3:9 Know for sure that I will then enable

the nations to give me acceptable praise. ¹ 

All of them will invoke the Lord’s name when they pray, ² 

and will worship him in unison. ³ 

Zefanya 2:3

2:3 Seek the Lord’s favor, ⁴  all you humble people ⁵  of the land who have obeyed his commands! ⁶ 

Strive to do what is right! ⁷  Strive to be humble! ⁸ 

Maybe you will be protected ⁹  on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

Zefanya 3:20

3:20 At that time I will lead you –

at the time I gather you together. ¹⁰ 

Be sure of this! ¹¹  I will make all the nations of the earth respect and admire you ¹² 

when you see me restore you,” ¹³  says the Lord.

Zefanya 1:2

The Lord’s Day of Judgment is Approaching

1:2 “I will destroy ¹⁴  everything from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.

Zefanya 1:12

1:12 At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps.

I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, ¹⁵ 

those who think to themselves, ¹⁶ 

‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ ¹⁷ 

Zefanya 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ¹⁸ 

for ¹⁹  he will weaken ²⁰  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ²¹ 

Zefanya 1:14

1:14 The Lord’s great day of judgment ²²  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. ²³ 

Zefanya 1:6

1:6 and those who turn their backs on ²⁴  the Lord

and do not want the Lord’s help or guidance.” ²⁵ 

Zefanya 2:4

Judgment on Surrounding Nations

2:4 Indeed, ²⁶  Gaza will be deserted ²⁷ 

and Ashkelon will become a heap of ruins. ²⁸ 

Invaders will drive away the people of Ashdod by noon, ²⁹ 

and Ekron will be overthrown. ³⁰ 

Zefanya 2:10

2:10 This is how they will be repaid for their arrogance, ³¹ 

for they taunted and verbally harassed ³²  the people of the Lord who commands armies.

Zefanya 3:10

3:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, ³³ 

those who pray to me ³⁴  will bring me tribute.

Zefanya 3:18

3:18 “As for those who grieve because they cannot attend the festivals –

I took them away from you;

they became tribute and were a source of shame to you. ³⁵ 

Zefanya 3:7

3:7 I thought, ³⁶  ‘Certainly you will respect ³⁷  me!

Now you will accept correction!’

If she had done so, her home ³⁸  would not be destroyed ³⁹ 

by all the punishments I have threatened. ⁴⁰ 

But they eagerly sinned

in everything they did. ⁴¹ 

Zefanya 1:4-5

1:4 “I will attack ⁴²  Judah

and all who live in Jerusalem. ⁴³ 

I will remove ⁴⁴  from this place every trace of Baal worship, ⁴⁵ 

as well as the very memory ⁴⁶  of the pagan priests. ⁴⁷ 

1:5 I will remove ⁴⁸  those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, ⁴⁹ 

those who swear allegiance to the Lord ⁵⁰  while taking oaths in the name of ⁵¹  their ‘king,’ ⁵² 

Zefanya 1:8

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

I will punish the princes ⁵³  and the king’s sons,

and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. ⁵⁴ 

Zefanya 3:2

3:2 She is disobedient; ⁵⁵ 

she refuses correction. ⁵⁶ 

She does not trust the Lord;

she does not seek the advice of ⁵⁷  her God.

Zefanya 1:17

1:17 I will bring distress on the people ⁵⁸ 

and they will stumble ⁵⁹  like blind men,

for they have sinned against the Lord.

Their blood will be poured out like dirt;

their flesh ⁶⁰  will be scattered ⁶¹  like manure.

Zefanya 2:7

2:7 Those who are left from the kingdom of Judah ⁶²  will take possession of it. ⁶³ 

By the sea ⁶⁴  they ⁶⁵  will graze,

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

for the Lord their God will intervene for them ⁶⁶  and restore their prosperity. ⁶⁷ 

Zefanya 2:15

2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up ⁶⁸  –

the city that was so secure. ⁶⁹ 

She thought to herself, ⁷⁰  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ⁷¹ 

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

Everyone who passes by her taunts her ⁷²  and shakes his fist. ⁷³ 

Zefanya 3:13

3:13 The Israelites who remain ⁷⁴  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 ⁷⁵  and lie down;

no one will terrify them.”

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, ⁷⁶ 

filled with salt pits, ⁷⁷ 

and permanently desolate.

Those of my people who are left ⁷⁸  will plunder their belongings; ⁷⁹ 

those who are left in Judah ⁸⁰  will take possession of their land.”

[3:9]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “so that all of them will call on the name of the Lord.”

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

[2:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “seek the Lord,” but “favor” seems to be implied from the final line of the verse.

[2:3]  ⁵ tn Or “poor.” The precise referent of this Hebrew term is unclear. The word may refer to the economically poor or to the spiritually humble.

[2:3]  ⁶ tn The present translation assumes the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here refers to God’s covenantal requirements and is a synonym for the Law. The word can mean “justice” and could refer more specifically to the principles of justice contained in the Law. In this case the phrase could be translated, “who have promoted the justice God demands.”

[2:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “Seek what is right.”

[2:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “Seek humility.”

[2:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “hidden.” Cf. NEB “it may be that you will find shelter”; NRSV “perhaps you may be hidden.”

[3:20]  ¹⁰ tn In this line the second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that the exiles are addressed.

[3:20]  ¹¹ tn Or “for.”

[3:20]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “when I restore your fortunes to your eyes.” See the note on the phrase “restore them” in 2:7.

[1:2]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text combines the infinitive absolute of אָסַף (’asaf, “gather up, sweep away”) with a Hiphil prefixed first person form of סוּף (suf, “come to an end”; see Jer 8:13 for the same combination). This can be translated literally, “Sweeping away, I will bring to an end.” Some prefer to emend the text so that the infinitive and finite form of the verb are from the same root (“I will certainly sweep away,” if from אָסַף [cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV]; “I will certainly bring to an end,” if from סוּף). For a discussion of proposals see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 167, 169.

[1:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “who thicken on their sediment.” The imagery comes from wine making, where the wine, if allowed to remain on the sediment too long, will thicken into syrup. The image suggests that the people described here were complacent in their sinful behavior and interpreted the delay in judgment as divine apathy.

[1:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”

[1:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “The Lord does not do good nor does he do evil.”

[2:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ¹⁹ tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  ²⁰ tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”

[2:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”

[1:14]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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.

[1:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “turn back from [following] after.”

[1:6]  ²⁵ 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.

[2:4]  ²⁶ tn Or “for” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[2:4]  ²⁷ tn There is a sound play here in the Hebrew text: the name Gaza (עַזָּה, ’azzah) sounds like the word translated “deserted” (עֲזוּבָה, ’azuvah).

[2:4]  ²⁸ tn Or “a desolate place.”

[2:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “[As for] Ashdod, at noon they will drive her away.”

[2:4]  sn The reference to noon may suggest a sudden, quick defeat (see Jer 6:4; 15:8).

[2:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “uprooted.” There is a sound play here in the Hebrew text: the name “Ekron” (עֶקְרוֹן, ’eqron) sounds like the word translated “uprooted” (תֵּעָקֵר, te’aqer).

[2:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “this is for them in place of their arrogance.”

[2:10]  ³² tn Heb “made great [their mouth?] against” (cf. the last phrase of v. 8).

[3:10]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ 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.

[3:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “The ones grieving from an assembly I gathered from you they were, tribute upon her, a reproach.” Any translation of this difficult verse must be provisional at best. The present translation assumes three things: (1) The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to “assembly” is causal (the individuals are sorrowing because of the assemblies or festivals they are no longer able to hold). (2) מַשְׂאֵת (mas’et) means “tribute” and refers to the exiled people being treated as the spoils of warfare (see R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah [WEC], 385-86). (3) The third feminine singular suffix refers to personified Jerusalem, which is addressed earlier in the verse (the pronominal suffix in “from you” is second feminine singular). For other interpretive options see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 146.

[3:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “said.”

[3:7]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ tn Or “dwelling place.”

[3:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “all which I have punished her.” The precise meaning of this statement and its relationship to what precedes are unclear.

[3:7]  ⁴¹ 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.

[1:4]  ⁴² tn Heb “I will stretch out my hand against,” is an idiom for hostile action.

[1:4]  ⁴³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:4]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:4]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the remnant of Baal.”

[1:4]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “name.” Here the “name” is figurative for the memory of those who bear it.

[1:4]  ⁴⁷ tc Heb “of the pagan priests and priests.” The first word (כְּמָרִים, kÿmarim) refers to idolatrous priests in its two other appearances in the OT (2 Kgs 23:5, Hos 10:5), while the second word (כֹּהֲנִים, kohanim) is the normal term for “priest” and is used of both legitimate and illegitimate priests in the OT. It is likely that the second term, which is omitted in the LXX, is a later scribal addition to the Hebrew text, defining the extremely rare word that precedes (see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 167-68; cf. also NEB, NRSV). Some argue that both words are original; among the modern English versions that include both are NASB and NIV. Possibly the first word refers to outright pagan priests, while the second has in view once-legitimate priests of the Lord who had drifted into idolatrous practices. Another option is found in Adele Berlin, who translates, “the idolatrous priests among the priests,” understanding the second word as giving the general category of which the idolatrous priests are a part (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 75).

[1:5]  ⁴⁸ tn The words “I will remove” are repeated from v. 4b for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 4b-6 contain a long list of objects for the verb “I will remove” in v. 4b. In the present translation a new sentence was begun at the beginning of v. 5 in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences.

[1:5]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “those who worship on their roofs the host of heaven.” The “host of heaven” included the sun, moon, planets, and stars, all of which were deified in the ancient Near East.

[1:5]  ⁵⁰ tc The MT reads, “those who worship, those who swear allegiance to the Lord.” The original form of the LXX omits the phrase “those who worship”; it may have been accidentally repeated from the preceding line. J. J. M. Roberts prefers to delete as secondary the phrase “those who swear allegiance” (J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 168).

[1:5]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “those who swear by.”

[1:5]  ⁵² tn The referent of “their king” is unclear. It may refer sarcastically to a pagan god (perhaps Baal) worshiped by the people. Some English versions (cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV) prefer to emend the text to “Milcom,” the name of an Ammonite god (following some LXX mss, Syriac, and Vulgate) or “Molech,” a god to whom the Israelites offered their children (cf. NIV, NLT). For a discussion of the options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 75-77.

[1:8]  ⁵³ tn Or “officials” (NRSV, TEV); NLT “leaders.”

[1:8]  ⁵⁴ sn The very dress of the royal court, foreign styles of clothing, revealed the degree to which Judah had assimilated foreign customs.

[3:2]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “she does not hear a voice” Refusing to listen is equated with disobedience.

[3:2]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “she does not receive correction.” The Hebrew phrase, when negated, refers elsewhere to rejecting verbal advice (Jer 17:23; 32:33; 35:13) and refusing to learn from experience (Jer 2:30; 5:3).

[3:2]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “draw near to.” The present translation assumes that the expression “draw near to” refers to seeking God’s will (see 1 Sam 14:36).

[1:17]  ⁵⁸ 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]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “walk.”

[1:17]  ⁶⁰ tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).

[1:17]  ⁶¹ 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.

[2:7]  ⁶² tn Heb “the remnant of the house of Judah.”

[2:7]  ⁶³ tn Or “the coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah.”

[2:7]  ⁶⁴ 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]  ⁶⁵ 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]  ⁶⁶ tn Or “will care for them.”

[2:7]  ⁶⁷ 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).

[2:15]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “this is the proud city.”

[2:15]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”

[2:15]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[2:15]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”

[2:15]  ⁷² tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”

[2:15]  ⁷³ 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.

[3:13]  ⁷⁴ tn Or “the remnant of Israel.”

[3:13]  ⁷⁵ tn The words “peacefully like sheep” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:9]  ⁷⁶ 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]  ⁷⁷ 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]  ⁷⁸ tn Or “The remnant of my people.”

[2:9]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “them.” The actual object of the plundering, “their belongings,” has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:9]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “[the] nation.” For clarity the “nation” has been specified as “Judah” in the translation.