Texts in Conversation
In Zephaniah 3:8, God rises up on the day of judgment. The Hebrew version has him rise to seize prey, while the Greek Septuagint reads the same word with different vowels so that he rises as a witness against the nations instead.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Zephaniah 3:8
Hebrew Bible
7 I thought, ‘Certainly you will respect me! Now you will accept correction!’ If she had done so, her home would not be destroyed by all the punishments I have threatened. But they eagerly sinned in everything they did. 8 Therefore you must wait patiently for me,” says the Lord, “for the day when I attack and take plunder. I have decided to gather nations together and assemble kingdoms, so I can pour out my fury on them—all my raging anger. For the whole earth will be consumed by my fiery anger. 9 Know for sure that I will then restore to the nations a pure speech.32 All of them will invoke the Lord’s name when they pray and will worship him in unison.
LXX Zephaniah 3:8
Septuagint
7 I said, But fear me, and receive instruction, and you shall not be cut off from her eyes for all the vengeance I have brought upon her: prepare yourself, rise early: all their produce is spoilt. 8 Therefore wait upon me, says the Lord, until the day when I rise up for a witness: because my judgment shall be on the gatherings of the nations, to draw to me kings, to pour out upon them all my fierce anger: for the whole earth shall be consumed with the fire of my jealousy. 9 For then will I turn to the peoples a tongue for her generation, that all may call on the name of the Lord, to serve him under one yoke.
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Notes and References
... Once and for all. Interpreting the Hebrew le'ad as la'ad, 'forever' (so the Vulgate). Most modern translations follow the Septuagint, reading le'ed, 'as a witness.' The Masoretic Text as it is vocalized means 'for booty'—compare Genesis 49:17; Isaiah 33:23; Bolle, and Ball ('for the prey'). Sabottka suggests 'from the throne,' following a suggestion of Dahood. Ehrlich emends to le'rk, 'to array in battle.' The imagery of wrath and fire echoes 1:15 and 2:2, and the same phraseology, 'the entire earth will be consumed by the fire of his/my passion' occurs here and in 1:18. ...
Berlin, Adele
Zephaniah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
(p. 133) Doubleday, 1994
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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