Mazmur 46:6

46:6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms are overthrown. ¹ 

God ²  gives a shout, ³  the earth dissolves. ⁴ 

Zefanya 3:14-17

3:14 Shout for joy, Daughter Zion! ⁵ 

Shout out, Israel!

Be happy and boast with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!

3:15 The Lord has removed the judgment against you; ⁶ 

he has turned back your enemy.

Israel’s king, the Lord, is in your midst!

You no longer need to fear disaster.

3:16 On that day they will say ⁷  to Jerusalem,

“Don’t be afraid, Zion!

Your hands must not be paralyzed from panic! ⁸ 

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

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; ⁹ 

he renews you by his love; ¹⁰ 

he shouts for joy over you.” ¹¹ 

[46:6]  ¹ tn Heb “nations roar, kingdoms shake.” The Hebrew verb הָמָה (hamah, “roar, be in uproar”) is used in v. 3 of the waves crashing, while the verb מוֹט (mot, “overthrown”) is used in v. 2 of mountains tumbling into the sea (see also v. 5, where the psalm affirms that Jerusalem “cannot be moved”). The repetition of the verbs suggests that the language of vv. 2-3 is symbolic and depicts the upheaval that characterizes relationships between the nations of the earth. As some nations (symbolized by the surging, chaotic waters) show hostility, others (symbolized by the mountains) come crashing down to destruction. The surging waters are symbolic of chaotic forces in other poetic texts (see, for example, Isa 17:12; Jer 51:42) and mountains can symbolize strong kingdoms (see, for example, Jer 51:25).

[46:6]  ² tn Heb “He.” God is the obvious referent here (see v. 5), and has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[46:6]  ³ tn Heb “offers his voice.” In theophanic texts the phrase refers to God’s thunderous shout which functions as a battle cry (see Pss 18:13; 68:33).

[46:6]  ⁴ tn Or “melts.” See Amos 9:5. The image depicts the nation’s helplessness before Jerusalem’s defender, who annihilates their armies (see vv. 8-9). The imperfect verbal form emphasizes the characteristic nature of the action described.

[3:14]  ⁵ sn This phrase is used as an epithet for the city and the nation. “Daughter” may seem extraneous in English but consciously joins the various epithets and metaphors of Israel and Jerusalem as a woman, a device used to evoke sympathy from the reader.

[3:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “your judgments,” that is, “the judgments directed against you.” The translation reflects the implications of the parallelism.

[3:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “it will be said.” The passive construction has been translated as active for stylistic reasons.

[3:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “your hands must not go limp.”

[3:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

[3:17]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”