Zephaniah 3:1

The filthy, ¹  stained city is as good as dead; the city filled with oppressors is finished! ² 

Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled!

Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, The tyrannical city!

How terrible it will be for rebellious, polluted Jerusalem, the city of violence and crime.

Doom to the rebellious city, the home of oppressors--Sewer City!

Sorrow to her who is uncontrolled and unclean, the cruel town!

Ah, soiled, defiled, oppressing city!

Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, To the oppressing city!

The filthy, ¹  stained city is as good as dead; the city filled with oppressors is finished! ² 

¹ tn The present translation assumes מֹרְאָה (mor’ah) is derived from רֹאִי (ro’i,“excrement”; see Jastrow 1436 s.v. רֳאִי). The following participle, “stained,” supports this interpretation (cf. NEB “filthy and foul”; NRSV “soiled, defiled”). Another option is to derive the form from מָרָה (marah, “to rebel”); in this case the term should be translated “rebellious” (cf. NASB, NIV “rebellious and defiled”). This idea is supported by v. 2. For discussion of the two options, see HALOT 630 s.v. I מרא and J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 206.

² tn Heb “Woe, soiled and stained one, oppressive city.” The verb “is finished” is supplied in the second line. On the Hebrew word הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), see the note on the word “dead” in 2:5.

sn The following verses show that Jerusalem, personified as a woman (“she”), is the referent.