Zefanya 2:13

2:13 The Lord ¹  will attack the north ² 

and destroy Assyria.

He will make Nineveh a heap of ruins;

it will be as barren ³  as the desert.

Zefanya 3:13

3:13 The Israelites who remain ⁴  will not act deceitfully.

They will not lie,

and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth.

Indeed, they will graze peacefully like sheep ⁵  and lie down;

no one will terrify them.”

Zefanya 3:20

3:20 At that time I will lead you –

at the time I gather you together. ⁶ 

Be sure of this! ⁷  I will make all the nations of the earth respect and admire you ⁸ 

when you see me restore you,” ⁹  says the Lord.

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, ¹⁰ 

those who think to themselves, ¹¹ 

‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ ¹² 

Zefanya 3:5

3:5 The just Lord resides ¹³  within her;

he commits no unjust acts. ¹⁴ 

Every morning he reveals ¹⁵  his justice.

At dawn he appears without fail. ¹⁶ 

Yet the unjust know no shame.

Zefanya 3:7

3:7 I thought, ¹⁷  ‘Certainly you will respect ¹⁸  me!

Now you will accept correction!’

If she had done so, her home ¹⁹  would not be destroyed ²⁰ 

by all the punishments I have threatened. ²¹ 

But they eagerly sinned

in everything they did. ²² 

Zefanya 3:11

3:11 In that day you ²³  will not be ashamed of all your rebelliousness against me, ²⁴ 

for then I will remove from your midst those who proudly boast, ²⁵ 

and you will never again be arrogant on my holy hill.

Zefanya 1:3

1:3 “I will destroy people and animals;

I will destroy the birds in the sky

and the fish in the sea.

(The idolatrous images of these creatures will be destroyed along with evil people.) ²⁶ 

I will remove ²⁷  humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.

Zefanya 3:1

Jerusalem is Corrupt

3:1 The filthy, ²⁸  stained city is as good as dead;

the city filled with oppressors is finished! ²⁹ 

Zefanya 1:13

1:13 Their wealth will be stolen

and their houses ruined!

They will not live in the houses they have built,

nor will they drink the wine from the vineyards they have planted.

Zefanya 2:14

2:14 Flocks and herds ³⁰  will lie down in the middle of it,

as well as every kind of wild animal. ³¹ 

Owls ³²  will sleep in the tops of its support pillars;

they will hoot through the windows. ³³ 

Rubble will cover the thresholds; ³⁴ 

even the cedar work ³⁵  will be exposed to the elements. ³⁶ 

Zefanya 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ³⁷ 

for ³⁸  he will weaken ³⁹  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ⁴⁰ 

Zefanya 3:9

3:9 Know for sure that I will then enable

the nations to give me acceptable praise. ⁴¹ 

All of them will invoke the Lord’s name when they pray, ⁴² 

and will worship him in unison. ⁴³ 

Zefanya 1:17

1:17 I will bring distress on the people ⁴⁴ 

and they will stumble ⁴⁵  like blind men,

for they have sinned against the Lord.

Their blood will be poured out like dirt;

their flesh ⁴⁶  will be scattered ⁴⁷  like manure.

Zefanya 3:19

3:19 Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you.

I will rescue the lame sheep ⁴⁸ 

and gather together the scattered sheep.

I will take away their humiliation

and make the whole earth admire and respect them. ⁴⁹ 

[2:13]  ¹ tn Heb “He”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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

[2:13]  ³ tn Or “dry.”

[3:13]  ⁴ tn Or “the remnant of Israel.”

[3:13]  ⁵ tn The words “peacefully like sheep” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:20]  ⁶ tn In this line the second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that the exiles are addressed.

[3:20]  ⁷ tn Or “for.”

[3:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will make you into a name and praise among all the peoples of the earth.” Here the word “name” carries the nuance of “good reputation.”

[3:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “when I restore your fortunes to your eyes.” See the note on the phrase “restore them” in 2:7.

[1:12]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”

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

[3:5]  ¹³ tn The word “resides” is supplied for clarification.

[3:5]  ¹⁴ tn Or “he does no injustice.”

[3:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “gives”; or “dispenses.”

[3:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “at the light he is not missing.” Note that NASB (which capitalizes pronouns referring to Deity) has divided the lines differently: “Every morning He brings His justice to light; // He does not fail.”

[3:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “said.”

[3:7]  ¹⁸ tn Or “fear.” The second person verb form (“you will respect”) is feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed.

[3:7]  sn God’s judgment of the nations (v. 6) was an object lesson for Israel’s benefit.

[3:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “dwelling place.”

[3:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “all which I have punished her.” The precise meaning of this statement and its relationship to what precedes are unclear.

[3:7]  ²² tn Heb “But they got up early, they made corrupt all their actions.” The phrase “they got up early” probably refers to their eagerness to engage in sinful activities.

[3:11]  ²³ sn The second person verbs and pronouns are feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed here.

[3:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “In that day you not be ashamed because of all your actions, [in] which you rebelled against me.”

[3:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the arrogant ones of your pride.”

[1:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “And the stumbling blocks [or, “ruins”] with the evil”; or “the things that make the evil stumble.” The line does not appear in the original form of the LXX; it may be a later scribal addition. The present translation assumes the “stumbling blocks” are idolatrous images of animals, birds, and fish. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 167, and Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB), 73-74.

[1:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:1]  ²⁸ tn The present translation assumes מֹרְאָה (mor’ah) is derived from רֹאִי (ro’i,“excrement”; see Jastrow 1436 s.v. רֳאִי). The following participle, “stained,” supports this interpretation (cf. NEB “filthy and foul”; NRSV “soiled, defiled”). Another option is to derive the form from מָרָה (marah, “to rebel”); in this case the term should be translated “rebellious” (cf. NASB, NIV “rebellious and defiled”). This idea is supported by v. 2. For discussion of the two options, see HALOT 630 s.v. I מרא and J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 206.

[3:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Woe, soiled and stained one, oppressive city.” The verb “is finished” is supplied in the second line. On the Hebrew word הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), see the note on the word “dead” in 2:5.

[3:1]  sn The following verses show that Jerusalem, personified as a woman (“she”), is the referent.

[2:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “flocks.” The Hebrew word can refer to both flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.

[2:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “[and] all the wild animals of a nation.” How גוֹי (goy, “nation”) relates to what precedes is unclear. It may be a corruption of another word. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 193.

[2:14]  ³² tn The Hebrew text reads here גַּם־קָאַת גַּם־קִפֹּד (gam-qa’at gam-qippod). The term קָאַת refers to some type of bird (see Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (Isa 34:11); one of the most common translations is “owl” (cf. NEB “horned owl”; NIV, NRSV “desert owl”; contra NASB “pelican”). The term קִפֹּד may also refer to a type of bird (cf. NEB “ruffed bustard”; NIV, NRSV “screech owl”). Some suggest a rodent may be in view (cf. NASB “hedgehog”); this is not unreasonable, for a rodent or some other small animal would be able to sleep in the tops of pillars which would be lying in the ruins of the fallen buildings.

[2:14]  ³³ tn Heb “a sound will sing in the window.” If some type of owl is in view, “hoot” is a more appropriate translation (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[2:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “rubble [will be] on the threshold.” “Rubble” translates the Hebrew word חֹרֶב (khorev, “desolation”). Some emend to עֹרֵב (’orev, “raven”) following the LXX and Vulgate; Adele Berlin translates, “A voice shall shriek from the window – a raven at the sill” (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 104).

[2:14]  ³⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “cedar work” (so NASB, NRSV) is unclear; NIV has “the beams of cedar.”

[2:14]  ³⁶ tn Heb “one will expose.” The subject is probably indefinite, though one could translate, “for he [i.e., God] will lay bare.”

[2:11]  ³⁷ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ³⁸ tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  ³⁹ tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”

[2:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”

[3:9]  ⁴¹ 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]  ⁴² tn Heb “so that all of them will call on the name of the Lord.”

[3:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “so that [they] will serve him [with] one shoulder.”

[1:17]  ⁴⁴ tn “The people” refers to mankind in general (see vv. 2-3) or more specifically to the residents of Judah (see vv. 4-13).

[1:17]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “walk.”

[1:17]  ⁴⁶ tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).

[1:17]  ⁴⁷ tn The words “will be scattered” are supplied in the translation for clarity based on the parallelism with “will be poured out” in the previous line.

[3:19]  ⁴⁸ tn The word “sheep” is supplied for clarification. As in Mic 4:6-7, the exiles are here pictured as injured and scattered sheep whom the divine shepherd rescues from danger.

[3:19]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “I will make them into praise and a name, in all the earth, their shame.” The present translation assumes that “their shame” specifies “them” and that “name” stands here for a good reputation.