Zefanya 3:5

3:5 The just Lord resides ¹  within her;

he commits no unjust acts. ² 

Every morning he reveals ³  his justice.

At dawn he appears without fail. ⁴ 

Yet the unjust know no shame.

Zefanya 3:12

3:12 I will leave in your midst a humble and meek group of people, ⁵ 

and they will find safety in the Lord’s presence. ⁶ 

Zefanya 2:5

2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ⁷  are as good as dead. ⁸ 

The Lord has decreed your downfall, ⁹  Canaan, land of the Philistines:

“I will destroy everyone who lives there!” 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 3:7

3:7 I thought, ¹⁴  ‘Certainly you will respect ¹⁵  me!

Now you will accept correction!’

If she had done so, her home ¹⁶  would not be destroyed ¹⁷ 

by all the punishments I have threatened. ¹⁸ 

But they eagerly sinned

in everything they did. ¹⁹ 

[3:5]  ¹ tn The word “resides” is supplied for clarification.

[3:5]  ² tn Or “he does no injustice.”

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

[3:5]  ⁴ 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.”

[3:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “needy and poor people.” The terms often refer to a socioeconomic group, but here they may refer to those who are humble in a spiritual sense.

[3:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord.”

[3:12]  sn Safety in the Lord’s presence. From the time the Lord introduced his special covenant name (Yahweh) to Moses, it served as a reminder of his protective presence as Israel’s faithful deliverer.

[2:5]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is against you.”

[2:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will destroy you so there is no inhabitant [remaining].”

[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.”

[3:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “said.”

[3:7]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Or “dwelling place.”

[3:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “cut off.”

[3:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all which I have punished her.” The precise meaning of this statement and its relationship to what precedes are unclear.

[3:7]  ¹⁹ 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.