Zephaniah 1:7-18
7 Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, ▼
▼tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.”
for the Lord’s day of judgment ▼
▼tn 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.
is almost here. ▼▼tn Or “near.”
The Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal; ▼
▼tn 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.
he has ritually purified ▼
▼tn Or “consecrated” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
his guests. 8 “On the day of the Lord’s sacrificial meal,
I will punish the princes ▼
▼tn Or “officials” (NRSV, TEV); NLT “leaders.”
and the king’s sons, and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. ▼
▼sn The very dress of the royal court, foreign styles of clothing, revealed the degree to which Judah had assimilated foreign customs.
9 On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, ▼
who fill the house of their master ▼
▼tn The referent of “their master” is unclear. The king or a pagan god may be in view.
with wealth taken by violence and deceit. ▼▼tn Heb “who fill…with violence and deceit.” The expression “violence and deceit” refers metonymically to the wealth taken by oppressive measures.
10 On that day,” says the Lord,
“a loud cry will go up ▼
▼tn The words “will go up” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
from the Fish Gate, ▼ wailing from the city’s newer district, ▼
▼tn 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”).
and a loud crash ▼
▼tn Heb “great breaking.”
from the hills. 11 Wail, you who live in the market district, ▼
▼tn Heb “in the Mortar.” The Hebrew term מַכְתֵּשׁ (makhtesh, “mortar”) is apparently here the name of a low-lying area where economic activity took place.
for all the merchants ▼
▼tn Or perhaps “Canaanites.” Cf. BDB 489 s.v. I and II כְּנַעֲנִי. 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).
will disappear ▼▼tn Or “be destroyed.”
and those who count money ▼
▼tn Heb “weigh out silver.”
will be removed. ▼ 12 At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps.
I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, ▼
▼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.
those who think to themselves, ▼
▼tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”
‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ ▼
▼tn Heb “The Lord does not do good nor does he do evil.”
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.
14 The Lord’s great day of judgment ▼ is almost here;
it is approaching very rapidly!
There will be a bitter sound on the Lord’s day of judgment;
at that time warriors will cry out in battle. ▼
▼tn 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 מַר (mar, “bitter”) with what precedes (contrary to the accentuation of the MT). (2) It understands the participle צָרַח (tsarakh, “cry out in battle”) as verbal with “warrior” as its subject. (3) It takes שָׁם (sham, “there”) in a temporal sense, meaning “then, at that time.” (4) It understands “warrior” as collective.
15 That day will be a day of God’s anger, ▼
▼tn Heb “a day of wrath.” The word “God’s” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
a day of distress and hardship,
a day of devastation and ruin,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and dark skies,
16 a day of trumpet blasts ▼
▼tn 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”).
and battle cries. ▼▼sn 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).
Judgment will fall on ▼
▼tn Heb “against.” The words “judgment will fall” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
the fortified cities and the high corner towers. 17 I will bring distress on the people ▼
and they will stumble ▼
▼tn Heb “walk.”
like blind men, for they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dirt;
their flesh ▼
▼tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).
will be scattered ▼▼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.
like manure. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them
in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.
The whole earth ▼
▼tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.
will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ▼▼tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”
Indeed, ▼
▼tn Or “for.”
he will bring terrifying destruction ▼▼tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”
on all who live on the earth.” ▼
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