Zephaniah 2


Zephaniah 2 is the second chapter of the Book of Zephaniah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Zephaniah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. This chapter contains a call to penitence and oracles against nations.

Text

The original text was written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 15 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis, the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets, Aleppo Codex, Codex Leningradensis. Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including 4Q77 with extant verses 13–15; 4Q78 with extant verse 15; and Wadi Murabba'at Minor Prophets with extant verses 1–15.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Marchalianus. Fragments cumulatively containing all verses of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, i.e., Naḥal Ḥever with extant verses 9-10.

A Call to Penitence (2:1-3)

Following a tradition of Amos, a call of penitence is given after the threats of total disaster.

Oracles against the Nations (2:4–15)

The nations spoken here represent Israel's enemies at 'the four points of the compass', so the oracles may function to establish Yahweh as 'the Lord of the Four Quarters of the Earth' or 'the Lord of the whole world'.

Verse 4