Ulangan 32:27

32:27 But I fear the reaction ¹  of their enemies,

for ²  their adversaries would misunderstand

and say, “Our power is great, ³ 

and the Lord has not done all this!”’

Mazmur 74:8-9

74:8 They say to themselves, ⁴ 

“We will oppress all of them.” ⁵ 

They burn down all the places where people worship God in the land. ⁶ 

74:9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence; ⁷ 

there are no longer any prophets ⁸ 

and we have no one to tell us how long this will last. ⁹ 

Mazmur 74:22-23

74:22 Rise up, O God! Defend your honor! ¹⁰ 

Remember how fools insult you all day long! ¹¹ 

74:23 Do not disregard ¹²  what your enemies say, ¹³ 

or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 140:8

140:8 O Lord, do not let the wicked have their way! ¹⁵ 

Do not allow their ¹⁶  plan to succeed when they attack! ¹⁷  (Selah)

Yesaya 37:4

37:4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. ¹⁸  When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. ¹⁹  So pray for this remnant that remains.’” ²⁰ 

Yesaya 37:17

37:17 Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to this entire message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God! ²¹ 

Yesaya 37:23

37:23 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?

At whom have you shouted

and looked so arrogantly? ²² 

At the Holy One of Israel! ²³ 

Yesaya 37:29

37:29 Because you rage against me

and the uproar you create has reached my ears, ²⁴ 

I will put my hook in your nose, ²⁵ 

and my bridle between your lips,

and I will lead you back

the way you came.”

Yeremia 48:26

48:26 “Moab has vaunted itself against me.

So make him drunk with the wine of my wrath ²⁶ 

until he splashes ²⁷  around in his own vomit,

until others treat him as a laughingstock.

Yeremia 50:29

50:29 “Call for archers ²⁸  to come against Babylon!

Summon against her all who draw the bow!

Set up camp all around the city!

Do not allow anyone to escape!

Pay her back for what she has done.

Do to her what she has done to others.

For she has proudly defied me, ²⁹ 

the Holy One of Israel. 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 2:2

2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality ³³  and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, ³⁴ 

before the Lord’s raging anger ³⁵  overtakes ³⁶  you –

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

Zefanya 2:4-8

Judgment on Surrounding Nations

2:4 Indeed, ³⁷  Gaza will be deserted ³⁸ 

and Ashkelon will become a heap of ruins. ³⁹ 

Invaders will drive away the people of Ashdod by noon, ⁴⁰ 

and Ekron will be overthrown. ⁴¹ 

2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ⁴²  are as good as dead. ⁴³ 

The Lord has decreed your downfall, ⁴⁴  Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy everyone who lives there!” ⁴⁵ 

2:6 The seacoast ⁴⁶  will be used as pasture lands ⁴⁷  by the shepherds

and as pens for their flocks.

2:7 Those who are left from the kingdom of Judah ⁴⁸  will take possession of it. ⁴⁹ 

By the sea ⁵⁰  they ⁵¹  will graze,

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

for the Lord their God will intervene for them ⁵²  and restore their prosperity. ⁵³ 

2:8 “I have heard Moab’s taunts

and the Ammonites’ insults.

They ⁵⁴  taunted my people

and verbally harassed those living in Judah. ⁵⁵ 

[32:27]  ¹ tn Heb “anger.”

[32:27]  ² tn Heb “lest.”

[32:27]  ³ tn Heb “Our hand is high.” Cf. NAB “Our own hand won the victory.”

[74:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “in their heart.”

[74:8]  ⁵ tc Heb “[?] altogether.” The Hebrew form נִינָם (ninam) is problematic. It could be understood as the noun נִין (nin, “offspring”) but the statement “their offspring altogether” would make no sense here. C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:159) emends יָחַד (yakhad, “altogether”) to יָחִיד (yakhid, “alone”) and translate “let their offspring be solitary” (i.e., exiled). Another option is to understand the form as a Qal imperfect first common plural from יָנָה (yanah, “to oppress”) with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix, “we will oppress them.” However, this verb, when used in the finite form, always appears in the Hiphil. Therefore, it is preferable to emend the form to the Hiphil נוֹנֵם (nonem, “we will oppress them”).

[74:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “they burn down all the meeting places of God in the land.”

[74:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “our signs we do not see.” Because of the reference to a prophet in the next line, it is likely that the “signs” in view here include the evidence of God’s presence as typically revealed through the prophets. These could include miraculous acts performed by the prophets (see, for example, Isa 38:7-8) or object lessons which they acted out (see, for example, Isa 20:3).

[74:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “there is not still a prophet.”

[74:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “and [there is] not with us one who knows how long.”

[74:22]  ¹⁰ tn Or “defend your cause.”

[74:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “remember your reproach from a fool all the day.”

[74:23]  ¹² tn Or “forget.”

[74:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “the voice of your enemies.”

[74:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the roar of those who rise up against you, which ascends continually.”

[140:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “do not grant the desires of the wicked.”

[140:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his.” The singular is used in a representative sense (see v. 1).

[140:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his plot do not promote, they rise up.” The translation understands the final verb as being an unmarked temporal clause. Another option is to revocalize the verb as a Hiphil and take the verb with the next verse, “those who surround me lift up [their] head,” which could refer to their proud attitude as they anticipate victory (see Ps 27:6).

[37:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”

[37:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”

[37:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”

[37:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “Hear all the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.”

[37:23]  ²² tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?” Cf. NIV “lifted your eyes in pride”; NRSV “haughtily lifted your eyes.”

[37:23]  ²³ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[37:29]  ²⁴ tc Heb “and your complacency comes up into my ears.” The parallelism is improved if שַׁאֲנַנְךָ (sha’anankha, “your complacency”) is emended to שְׁאוֹנְךָ (shÿ’onÿkha, “your uproar”). See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 237-38. However, the LXX seems to support the MT and Sennacherib’s cavalier dismissal of Yahweh depicts an arrogant complacency (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:658, n. 10).

[37:29]  ²⁵ sn The word-picture has a parallel in Assyrian sculpture. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 238.

[48:26]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Make him drunk because he has magnified himself against the Lord.” The first person has again been adopted for consistency within a speech of the Lord. Almost all of the commentaries relate the figure of drunkenness to the figure of drinking the cup of God’s wrath spelled out in Jer 25 where reference is made at one point to the nations drinking, staggering, vomiting, and falling (25:27 and see G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 316, for a full list of references to this figure including this passage and 49:12-13; 51:6-10, 39, 57).

[48:26]  ²⁷ tn The meaning of this word is uncertain. It is usually used of clapping the hands or the thigh in helpless anger or disgust. Hence J. Bright (Jeremiah [AB], 321) paraphrases “shall vomit helplessly.” HALOT 722 s.v. II סָפַק relates this to an Aramaic word and see a homonym meaning “vomit” or “spew out.” The translation is that of BDB 706 s.v. סָפַק Qal.3, “splash (fall with a splash),” from the same root that refers to slapping or clapping the thigh.

[50:29]  ²⁸ tn For this word see BDB 914 s.v. III רַב and compare usage in Prov 26:10 and Job 16:12 and compare the usage of the verb in Gen 49:23. Based on this evidence, it is not necessary to emend the form to רֹבִים (rovim) as many commentators contend.

[50:29]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for she has acted insolently against the Lord.” Once again there is the problem of the Lord speaking about himself in the third person (or the prophet dropping his identification with the Lord). As in several other places the present translation, along with several other modern English versions (TEV, CEV, NIrV), has substituted the first person to maintain consistency with the context.

[50:29]  ³⁰ sn The Holy One of Israel is a common title for the Lord in the book of Isaiah. It is applied to the Lord only here and in 51:5 in the book of Jeremiah. It is a figure where an attribute of a person is put as a title of a person (compare “your majesty” for a king). It pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

[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).

[2:2]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ tn Heb “comes upon.” This phrase occurs twice in this verse.

[2:4]  ³⁷ tn Or “for” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[2:4]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ tn Or “a desolate place.”

[2:4]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ 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).

[2:5]  ⁴² tn Heb “Kerethites,” a people settled alongside the Philistines in the coastal areas of southern Palestine (cf. 1 Sam 30:14; Ezek 25:16). They originally came from the island of Crete.

[2:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Woe, inhabitants of the coast of the sea, nation of Kerethites.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), is used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5). By using it here the prophet mourns in advance the downfall of the Philistines, thereby emphasizing the certainty of their demise (“as good as dead”). Some argue the word does not have its earlier connotation here and is simply an attention-getting interjection, equivalent to “Hey!”

[2:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is against you.”

[2:5]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “I will destroy you so there is no inhabitant [remaining].”

[2:6]  ⁴⁶ 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]  ⁴⁷ 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.”

[2:7]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the remnant of the house of Judah.”

[2:7]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “the coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah.”

[2:7]  ⁵⁰ 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]  ⁵¹ 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]  ⁵² tn Or “will care for them.”

[2:7]  ⁵³ 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).

[2:8]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:8]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and they made great [their mouth?] against their territory.” Other possible translation options include (1) “they enlarged their own territory” (cf. NEB) and (2) “they bragged about [the size] of their own territory.”