Zefanya 1:11

1:11 Wail, you who live in the market district, ¹ 

for all the merchants ²  will disappear ³ 

and those who count money ⁴  will be removed. ⁵ 

Zefanya 1:18

1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them

in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

The whole earth ⁶  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ⁷ 

Indeed, ⁸  he will bring terrifying destruction ⁹  on all who live on the earth.” ¹⁰ 

[1:11]  ¹ tn Heb “in the Mortar.” The Hebrew term מַכְתֵּשׁ (makhtesh, “mortar”) is apparently here the name of a low-lying area where economic activity took place.

[1:11]  ² tn Or perhaps “Canaanites.” Cf. BDB 489 s.v. I and II כְּנַעֲנִי. Translators have rendered the term either as “the merchant people” (KJV, NKJV), “the traders” (NRSV), “merchants” (NEB, NIV), or, alternatively, “the people of Canaan” (NASB).

[1:11]  ³ tn Or “be destroyed.”

[1:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “weigh out silver.”

[1:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “be cut off.” In the Hebrew text of v. 11b the perfect verbal forms emphasize the certainty of the judgment, speaking of it as if it were already accomplished.

[1:18]  ⁶ tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

[1:18]  ⁷ tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

[1:18]  ⁸ tn Or “for.”

[1:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

[1:18]  ¹⁰ tn It is not certain where the Lord’s words end and the prophet’s words begin. It is possible that Zephaniah begins speaking in the middle of v. 17 or at the beginning of v. 18 (note the third person pronouns referring to the Lord).