Zefanya 1:5-6

1:5 I will remove ¹  those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, ² 

those who swear allegiance to the Lord ³  while taking oaths in the name of ⁴  their ‘king,’ ⁵ 

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

and do not want the Lord’s help or guidance.” ⁷ 

Zefanya 1:9

1:9 On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, ⁸ 

who fill the house of their master ⁹  with wealth taken by violence and deceit. ¹⁰ 

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, ¹¹ 

those who think to themselves, ¹² 

‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ ¹³ 

Zefanya 2:5

2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ¹⁴  are as good as dead. ¹⁵ 

The Lord has decreed your downfall, ¹⁶  Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy everyone who lives there!” ¹⁷ 

Zefanya 2:12

2:12 “You ¹⁸  Ethiopians ¹⁹  will also die by my sword!” ²⁰ 

Zefanya 2:10

2:10 This is how they will be repaid for their arrogance, ²¹ 

for they taunted and verbally harassed ²²  the people of the Lord who commands armies.

Zefanya 3:16

3:16 On that day they will say ²³  to Jerusalem,

“Don’t be afraid, Zion!

Your hands must not be paralyzed from panic! ²⁴ 

Zefanya 1:10

1:10 On that day,” says the Lord,

“a loud cry will go up ²⁵  from the Fish Gate, ²⁶ 

wailing from the city’s newer district, ²⁷ 

and a loud crash ²⁸  from the hills.

[1:5]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “those who swear by.”

[1:5]  ⁵ 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.

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

[1:6]  ⁷ 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.

[1:9]  ⁸ sn The point of the statement all who hop over the threshold is unclear. A ritual or superstition associated with the Philistine god Dagon may be in view (see 1 Sam 5:5).

[1:9]  ⁹ tn The referent of “their master” is unclear. The king or a pagan god may be in view.

[1:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “who fill…with violence and deceit.” The expression “violence and deceit” refers metonymically to the wealth taken by oppressive measures.

[1:12]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”

[1:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “The Lord does not do good nor does he do evil.”

[2:5]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is against you.”

[2:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I will destroy you so there is no inhabitant [remaining].”

[2:12]  ¹⁸ sn Though there is no formal introduction, these words are apparently spoken by the Lord (note my sword).

[2:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Cushites.” This is traditionally assumed to refer to people from the region south of Egypt, i.e., Nubia or northern Sudan, referred to as “Ethiopia” by classical authors (not the more recent Abyssinia).

[2:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Also you Cushites, who lie dead by my sword.”

[2:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “this is for them in place of their arrogance.”

[2:10]  ²² tn Heb “made great [their mouth?] against” (cf. the last phrase of v. 8).

[3:16]  ²³ tn Heb “it will be said.” The passive construction has been translated as active for stylistic reasons.

[3:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “your hands must not go limp.”

[1:10]  ²⁵ tn The words “will go up” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:10]  ²⁶ sn The Fish Gate was located on Jerusalem’s north side (cf. 2 Chr 33:14; Neh 3:3; 12:39).

[1:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from the second area.” This may refer to an area northwest of the temple where the rich lived (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 86; cf. NASB, NRSV “the Second Quarter”; NIV “the New Quarter”).

[1:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “great breaking.”