¹tn Heb “The word of the Lord which came to.”
²tn Heb “in the days of.” The words “Zephaniah delivered this message” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
³tn The Hebrew text combines the infinitive absolute of [s^a* (’asaf, “gather up, sweep away”) with a Hiphil prefixed first person form of [Ws (suf, “come to an end”; see Jer 8:13 for the same combination). This can be translated literally, “Sweeping away, I will bring to an end.” Some prefer to emend the text so that the infinitive and finite form of the verb are from the same root (“I will certainly sweep away,” if from [s^a* [cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV]; “I will certainly bring to an end,” if from [Ws). For a discussion of proposals see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 167, 169.
⁴tn 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.
⁵tn Heb “cut off.”
⁶tn Heb “I will stretch out my hand against,” is an idiom for hostile action.
⁷map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
⁸tn Heb “cut off.”
⁹tn Heb “the remnant of Baal.”
¹⁰tn Heb “name.” Here the “name” is figurative for the memory of those who bear it.
¹¹tc Heb “of the pagan priests and priests.” The first word (<yr]m*k=, k ^emarim) refers to idolatrous priests in its two other appearances in the OT (2 Kgs 23:5, Hos 10:5), while the second word (<yn]h&k), kohanim) is the normal term for “priest” and is used of both legitimate and illegitimate priests in the OT. It is likely that the second term, which is omitted in the LXX, is a later scribal addition to the Hebrew text, defining the extremely rare word that precedes (see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 167-68; cf. also NEB, NRSV). Some argue that both words are original; among the modern English translations that include both are the NASB and NIV. Possibly the first word refers to outright pagan priests, while the second has in view once-legitimate priests of the Lord who had drifted into idolatrous practices. Another option is found in Adele Berlin, who translates, “the idolatrous priests among the priests,” understanding the second word as giving the general category of which the idolatrous priests are a part (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 75).
¹²tn 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.
¹³tn 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.
¹⁴tc 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).
¹⁵tn Heb “those who swear by.”
¹⁶tn The referent of “their king” is unclear. It may refer sarcastically to a pagan god (perhaps Baal) worshiped by the people. Some translations (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.
¹⁷tn Heb “turn back from [following] after.”
¹⁸tn 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.
¹⁹tn Heb “Lord Lord.” The phrase hw]hy+ yn`d)a& (adonai y^ehvih) is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God.”
²⁰tn Heb “the day of the Lord.”
sn The origin of the concept of “the day of the Lord” is uncertain. It may have originated in the ancient Near Eastern idea of the sovereign’s day of conquest, where a king would boast that he had concluded an entire military campaign in a single day (see D. Stuart, “The Sovereign’s Day of Conquest,” BASOR 221 [1976]: 159-64). In the OT the expression is applied to several acts of divine judgment, some historical and others still future (see A. J. Everson, “The Days of Yahweh,” JBL 93 [1974]: 329-37). In the OT the phrase first appears in Amos (assuming that Amos predates Joel and Obadiah), where it seems to refer to a belief on the part of the northern kingdom that God would intervene on Israel’s behalf and judge the nation’s enemies. Amos affirms that the Lord’s day of judgment is indeed approaching, but he declares that it will be a day of disaster, not deliverance, for Israel. Here in Zephaniah, the “day of the Lord” includes God’s coming judgment of Judah, as well as a more universal outpouring of divine anger.
²¹tn Or “near.”
²²tn Heb “a sacrifice.” This same word also occurs in the following verse.
sn Because a sacrificial meal presupposes the slaughter of animals, it is used here as a metaphor of the bloody judgment to come.
²³tn Or “consecrated.”
²⁴tn Or “officials.”
²⁵sn The very dress of the royal court, foreign styles of clothing, revealed the degree to which Judah had assimilated foreign customs.
²⁶sn 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).
²⁷tn The referent of “their master” is unclear. The king or a pagan god may be in view.
²⁸tn Heb “who fill…with violence and deceit.” The expression “violence and deceit” refers metonymically to the wealth taken by oppressive measures.
²⁹tn The words “will go up” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
³⁰sn The Fish Gate was located on Jerusalem’s north side (cf. 2 Chr 33:14; Neh 3:3; 12:39).
³¹tn 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”).
³²tn Heb “great breaking.”
³³tn Heb “in the Mortar.” The Hebrew term vT@k=m^ (makhtesh, “mortar”) is apparently here the name of a low-lying area where economic activity took place.
³⁴tn Or perhaps “Canaanites.” Cf. BDB 489 s.v. I and II yn]u&n~K=. 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).
³⁵tn Or “be destroyed.”
³⁶tn Heb “weigh out silver.”
³⁷tn 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.
³⁸tn 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.
³⁹tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”
⁴⁰tn Heb “The Lord does not do good nor does he do evil.”
⁴¹tn Heb “The great day of the Lord.” The words “of judgment” are supplied in the translation here and later in this verse for clarity. See the note on the expression “day of judgment” in v. 7.
⁴²tn Heb “the sound of the day of the Lord, bitter [is] one crying out there, a warrior.” The present translation does four things: (1) It takes rm^ (mar, “bitter”) with what precedes (contrary to the accentuation of the MT). (2) It understands the participle jr^x* (tsarakh, “cry out in battle”) as verbal with “warrior” as its subject. (3) It takes <v* (sham, “there”) in a temporal sense, meaning “then, at that time.” (4) It understands “warrior” as collective.
⁴³tn Heb “a day of wrath.” The word “God’s” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
⁴⁴tn Heb “a ram’s horn.” By metonymy the Hebrew text mentions the trumpet (“ram’s horn”) in place of the sound it produces (“trumpet blasts”).
⁴⁵sn This description of the day of the Lord consists of an initial reference to anger, followed by four pairs of synonyms. The joining of synonyms in this way emphasizes the degree of the characteristic being described. The first two pairs focus on the distress and ruin that judgment will bring; the second two pairs picture this day of judgment as being very dark (darkness) and exceedingly overcast (gloom). The description concludes with the pairing of two familiar battle sounds, the blast on the ram’s horn (trumpet blasts) and the war cries of the warriors (battle cries).
⁴⁶tn Heb “against.” The words “judgment will fall” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
⁴⁷tn “The people” refers to mankind in general (see vv. 2-3) or more specifically to the residents of Judah (see vv. 4-13).
⁴⁸tn Heb “walk.”
⁴⁹tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).
⁵⁰tn 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.
⁵¹tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.
⁵²tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”
⁵³tn Or “for.”
⁵⁴tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”
⁵⁵tn 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).