Zefanya 3:15

3:15 The Lord has removed the judgment against you; ¹ 

he has turned back your enemy.

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

You no longer need to fear disaster.

Zefanya 3:17

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

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; ² 

he renews you by his love; ³ 

he shouts for joy over you.” ⁴ 

[3:15]  ¹ tn Heb “your judgments,” that is, “the judgments directed against you.” The translation reflects the implications of the parallelism.

[3:17]  ² tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

[3:17]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”