Zephaniah 3

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

The sin of Jerusalem

¹ Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city! ² She has not obeyed the voice; she has not accepted correction. She has not trusted in Yahweh; she has not drawn near to her Elohim. ³ Her officials in her midst are roaring lions; her judges are wolves of the evening that leave nothing until the morning. ⁴ Her prophets are reckless, men of treachery; her priests have profaned what is holy, they have done violence to the Torah. ⁵ Yahweh is righteous in her midst; He does no injustice. Morning by morning He brings His justice to light; He does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame.

⁶ I have cut off nations; their corner towers are desolate. I have laid waste their streets, with no one passing through; their cities are destroyed, without a man, without an inhabitant. ⁷ I said, "Surely you will fear Me, you will accept correction," so that her dwelling would not be cut off, for all that I had appointed against her. But they rose early and corrupted all their deeds. ⁸ Therefore wait for Me, declares Yahweh, for the day when I rise up to the prey. For My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them My indignation, all My burning anger; for in the fire of My jealousy all the earth shall be devoured.

The peoples turned to Yahweh

⁹ For then I will turn to the peoples a pure language, that all of them may call on the name of Yahweh, to serve Him with one shoulder. ¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of Cush My worshipers, the daughter of My dispersed ones, shall bring My offering.

¹¹ In that day you shall not be put to shame for any of your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty on My holy mountain. ¹² But I will leave in your midst a people humble and poor, and they shall take refuge in the name of Yahweh. ¹³ The remnant of Israel shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall graze and lie down, and no one will make them afraid.

A song of joy for Zion

¹⁴ Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! ¹⁵ Yahweh has taken away the judgments against you; He has cleared away your enemy. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst; you shall fear evil no more. ¹⁶ In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow slack." ¹⁷ Yahweh your Elohim is in your midst, a Mighty One who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will be quiet in His love, He will exult over you with singing.

¹⁸ Those who grieve, cut off from the appointed times, I will gather; they were from you, and reproach was a burden on her. ¹⁹ See, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you; and I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will make them a praise and a name in every land where they were put to shame. ²⁰ At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says Yahweh.

Notes

• 3:2 At first the "woe" could still be aimed at Nineveh (2:13-15), but by verse 2 the city has "her Elohim," and it is plainly Jerusalem. "Oppressing" is hayyonah, which sounds exactly like "the dove" (yonah); many hear a bitter wordplay, the dove that Israel was meant to be (compare Hosea 7:11) turned oppressor. Verse 2 echoes Jeremiah 7:28: "This is the nation that did not obey the voice of Yahweh its Elohim nor accept correction."
• 3:4 The priests were given the Torah to keep and to teach, to distinguish between holy and common (Leviticus 10:10-11); instead they "have done violence" (chamas) to it, twisting it by what they did and taught. Ezekiel 22:26 takes up these very words: "Her priests have done violence to My Torah and have profaned My holy things."
• 3:9 "Language" is safah, literally "lip," the word of Genesis 11:1 ("one language") and 11:7, where Yahweh confused the language at Babel; many readers have long seen that story turned around here, and some see a foretaste in Acts 2, though the text itself does not say so. "Pure" (berurah) means cleansed, a lip no longer swearing by other gods' names (1:5; compare Hosea 2:17). Some later readers took it to mean a return to Hebrew; the verse speaks rather of the nations calling "on the name of Yahweh." "With one shoulder" (shekhem echad) pictures people bearing one load together: with one accord.
• 3:10 "Beyond the rivers of Cush" is the far south of the known world, the Nile lands of Isaiah 18:1. "My worshipers" (atarai) means "those who entreat Me." "The daughter of My dispersed ones" may be the scattered people of Israel living even there (compare Isaiah 11:11, which names Cush among the lands of return), brought home as an offering (Isaiah 66:20); others take it of the far nations themselves turning to Yahweh, as the verse before suggests. Both readings are held, and the TRB keeps the Hebrew open.
• 3:17 "In her midst" runs through the chapter: corrupt officials "in her midst" (3:3), yet "Yahweh is righteous in her midst" (3:5); now the proud are removed "from your midst," a humble people is left "in your midst" (3:11-12), and the King, Yahweh, is "in your midst" (3:15, 17). "Who will save" is yoshia, from the root of Yeshua's name. "He will be quiet in His love" follows the Hebrew, a love too deep for words, or a love that no longer brings up past sins; the ancient Greek translation read a similar word, "He will renew you in His love." "Rejoice over you" recalls Deuteronomy 30:9: "for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good."
• 3:20 Verse 18 is one of the hardest in the book. "The appointed times" are mo'adim, Yahweh's appointed feasts (Leviticus 23:2); in exile the faithful grieved because they could not keep them at Zion (Lamentations 1:4). The promise is that the scattered, "the lame" and "the outcast," will be gathered and their shame turned to honor before the nations, "when I restore your fortunes," as Moses promised (Deuteronomy 30:3-4). In the centuries before Yeshua, Jews still prayed for this gathering; Ben Sira, about 180 BC, prays, "Gather all the tribes of Jacob" (Sirach 36).

Zephaniah 2 · Haggai 1

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