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Judgment of Jerusalem and the Nations

Woe to you, O rebellious and defiled one!
    The oppressing city!
She listens to no voice;
    she does not accept correction.
In Yahweh she does not trust;
    to her God she does not draw near.
Her officials in her midst are roaring lions;
    her judges are evening wolves;
        they leave nothing until the morning.
Her prophets are arrogant men of treachery;
    her priests have defiled that which is holy;
        they do violence to the law.
Yahweh is righteous in her midst;
    he does not do wickedness.
Morning by morning[a] he renders his judgment;
    at dawn he does not fail,
but an evil one knows no shame.
“I have cut off nations;
    their strongholds are deserted.
I have laid waste their streets,
    so that none pass through.
Their cities have been destroyed
    and are without a man, without an inhabitant.
I have said, ‘Surely she will fear me;
    she will accept discipline.
Then her dwelling place will not be cut down,
    nor all that I have brought upon her.’
Surely they rise early;
    they make all their deeds corrupt.

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Footnotes

  1. Zephaniah 3:5 Literally “In the morning, in the morning”

Jerusalem is Corrupt

Beware to the filthy,[a] stained city;
the city filled with oppressors![b]
She is disobedient;[c]
she has refused correction.[d]
She does not trust the Lord;
she has not sought the advice of[e] her God.
Her princes[f] are as fierce as roaring lions;[g]
her rulers[h] are as hungry as wolves in the desert,[i]
who completely devour their prey by morning.[j]
Her prophets are proud;[k]
they are deceitful men.
Her priests have defiled what is holy;[l]
they have broken God’s laws.[m]
The just Lord resides[n] within her;
he commits no unjust acts.[o]
Every morning he reveals[p] his justice.
At dawn he appears without fail.[q]
Yet the unjust know no shame.

The Lord’s Judgment will Purify

“I destroyed[r] nations;
their walled cities[s] are in ruins.
I turned their streets into ruins;
no one passes through them.
Their cities are desolate;[t]
no one lives there.[u]
I thought,[v] ‘Certainly you will respect[w] me!
Now you will accept correction!’
If she had done so, her home[x] would not be destroyed[y]
by all the punishments I have threatened.[z]
But they eagerly sinned
in everything they did.[aa]

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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.”
  18. Zephaniah 3:6 tn Heb “cut off.”
  19. Zephaniah 3:6 tn Heb “corner towers”; NEB, NRSV “battlements.”
  20. Zephaniah 3:6 tn This Hebrew verb (צָדָה, tsadah) occurs only here in the OT, but its meaning is established from the context and from an Aramaic cognate.
  21. Zephaniah 3:6 tn Heb “so that there is no man, without inhabitant.”
  22. Zephaniah 3:7 tn Heb “said.”
  23. Zephaniah 3:7 tn Or “fear.” The second person verb form (“you will respect”) is feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed. sn God’s judgment of the nations (v. 6) was an object lesson for Israel’s benefit.
  24. Zephaniah 3:7 tn Or “dwelling place.”
  25. Zephaniah 3:7 tn Heb “cut off.”
  26. Zephaniah 3:7 tn Heb “all which I have punished her.” The precise meaning of this statement and its relationship to what precedes are unclear.
  27. Zephaniah 3:7 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.