Zephaniah 3:1-5

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Zephaniah 3:1 tn The present translation assumes מֹרְאָה (morʾah) is derived from רֹאִי (roʾi, “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.
2. Zephaniah 3:1 sn The following verses show that Jerusalem, personified as a woman (“she”), is the referent.
3. Zephaniah 3:2 tn Heb “she has not listened to a voice.” Refusing to listen is equated with disobedience.
4. Zephaniah 3:2 tn Heb “she has not received correction.” The Hebrew phrase, when negated, refers elsewhere to rejecting verbal advice (Jer 17:23; 32:33; 35:13) and refusing to learn from experience (Jer 2:30; 5:3).
5. Zephaniah 3:2 tn Heb “draw near to.” The translation assumes that the expression “draw near to” refers to seeking God’s will (see 1 Sam 14:36).
6. Zephaniah 3:3 tn Or “officials.”
7. Zephaniah 3:3 tn Heb “her princes in her midst are roaring lions.” The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as fierce as”) for clarity.
8. Zephaniah 3:3 tn Traditionally “judges.”
9. Zephaniah 3:3 tn Heb “her judges [are] wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (ʿaravah, “desert”). For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 128. The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as hungry as”) for clarity.
10. Zephaniah 3:3 tn Heb “they do not gnaw [a bone] at morning.” The precise meaning of the line is unclear. The statement may mean these wolves devour their prey so completely that not even a bone is left to gnaw by the time morning arrives. For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 129.
11. Zephaniah 3:4 sn Applied to prophets, the word פֹּחֲזִים (pokhazim, “proud”) probably refers to their audacity in passing off their own words as genuine prophecies from the Lord (see Jer 23:32).
12. Zephaniah 3:4 tn Or “defiled the temple.”sn These priests defiled what is holy by not observing the proper distinctions between what is ritually clean and unclean (see Ezek 22:26).
13. Zephaniah 3:4 tn Heb “they treated [the] law violently.”
14. Zephaniah 3:5 tn The word “resides” is supplied for clarification.
15. Zephaniah 3:5 tn Or “he does no injustice.”
16. Zephaniah 3:5 tn Heb “gives”; or “dispenses.”
17. Zephaniah 3:5 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.”