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10 This is how they will be repaid for their arrogance,[a]
for they taunted and verbally harassed[b] the people of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
11 The Lord will terrify them,[c]
for[d] he will weaken[e] all the gods of the earth.
All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands.[f]
12 “You[g] Ethiopians[h] will also die by my sword!”[i]

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Footnotes

  1. Zephaniah 2:10 tn Heb “this is for them in place of their arrogance.”
  2. Zephaniah 2:10 tn Heb “made great [their mouth?] against” (cf. the last phrase of v. 8).
  3. Zephaniah 2:11 tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”
  4. Zephaniah 2:11 tn Or “certainly.”
  5. Zephaniah 2:11 tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”
  6. Zephaniah 2:11 tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”
  7. Zephaniah 2:12 sn Though there is no formal introduction, these words are apparently spoken by the Lord (note my sword).
  8. Zephaniah 2:12 tn Heb “Cushites.” This is traditionally assumed to refer to people from the region south of Egypt, i.e., Nubia or northern Sudan, referred to as “Ethiopia” by classical authors (not the more recent Abyssinia).
  9. Zephaniah 2:12 tn Heb “Also you Cushites, who lie dead by my sword.”

10 This is what they will get in return for their pride,(A)
    for insulting(B) and mocking
    the people of the Lord Almighty.(C)
11 The Lord will be awesome(D) to them
    when he destroys all the gods(E) of the earth.(F)
Distant nations will bow down to him,(G)
    all of them in their own lands.

Cush

12 “You Cushites,[a](H) too,
    will be slain by my sword.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Zephaniah 2:12 That is, people from the upper Nile region