Zefanya 1:5

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 

Zefanya 2:13

2:13 The Lord ⁶  will attack the north ⁷ 

and destroy Assyria.

He will make Nineveh a heap of ruins;

it will be as barren ⁸  as the desert.

Zefanya 3:9

3:9 Know for sure that I will then enable

the nations to give me acceptable praise. ⁹ 

All of them will invoke the Lord’s name when they pray, ¹⁰ 

and will worship him in unison. ¹¹ 

[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.

[2:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “He”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “he will stretch out his hand against the north.”

[2:13]  ⁸ tn Or “dry.”

[3:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “Certainly [or perhaps, “For”] then I will restore to the nations a pure lip.”

[3:9]  sn I will then enable the nations to give me acceptable praise. This apparently refers to a time when the nations will reject their false idol-gods and offer genuine praise to the one true God.

[3:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so that all of them will call on the name of the Lord.”

[3:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “so that [they] will serve him [with] one shoulder.”