This verse shows the intended purpose of the LORD’s actions in verse 6 and the actual result, which was quite different from what was desired.

Verse 7 opens with the words I said and then gives a quotation within the main quotation that runs from verse 6 to verse 13. Good News Translation interprets I said to mean “I said to myself” (compare Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant) and translates as “I thought” (compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Then it continues by turning the words quoted into indirect speech. Translators may use direct or indirect speech according to the normal patterns of their own language.

In the first two clauses Revised Standard Version uses the third person pronoun she where Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and New International Version use the second person “you.” The Hebrew actually has second person feminine forms in these two clauses (addressing the city, which is feminine in Hebrew) but third person forms in the third and fourth clauses. Such a change of person is somewhat awkward in English. It is not clear whether the Revised Standard Version translators changed the Hebrew text, or whether they made the alteration to third person on translational grounds. Translators should use whichever form best fits the overall paragraph structure in their own language. Note that by using indirect speech Good News Translation avoids this problem.

Surely (Good News Translation “then”) refers back to the words of the LORD in verse 6. Many translators will need to say, for example, “Because of this I thought that my people….” The LORD’s intention was that his own people, on seeing the punishment of gentile nations, would fear me and accept correction. The words “have reverence for” (Good News Translation) give the meaning in this context of the word translated fear in Revised Standard Version and most other modern English versions. The main component of meaning of fear in ordinary usage is “to be afraid of,” whereas the sense intended here is rather that of “respect.” The expression accept correction is the same expression which occurred in verse 2, and its recurrence here helps to tie these paragraphs together.

In the next part of the verse, most modern versions follow the Septuagint in rendering not lose sight or something of similar meaning such as “remember” (compare Bible de Jérusalem, New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). This understanding depends on reading the Hebrew word meʿonah “her dwellings” with different vowels as meʿeneha “from her eyes.” The Hebrew is retained by Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and New International Version as it stands (compare Hebrew Old Testament Text Project), but the Septuagint understanding as found in the majority of modern versions fits the context better, and translators are recommended to follow it.

All that I have enjoined upon her: the Hebrew verb translated enjoined is a word of wide meaning. The basic sense is “to visit” (compare New American Bible), either with the intention of punishing (compare Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible) or of giving responsibility or instruction (compare Moffatt, New English Bible). Revised Standard Version enjoined has the idea of responsibility. Good News Translation has the idea of instruction and expresses it in simple terms as “the lesson I taught them.”

But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt: the final sentence shows the reaction of the people to the lessons the LORD had tried to teach them. Literally it says “but they rose early and corrupted all their doings” (Revised Version). The combination of the verb translated “rise early” with another verb is a favorite expression of Jeremiah (for example, Jer 7.13, 25; 11.7; 25.3, 4). It usually means “to do something persistently or eagerly,” and this is the sense here. The words eager or “eagerly” are used in Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, New International Version, and New Jerusalem Bible, but Good News Translation seems to miss this element of meaning. It apparently takes the idea of rising early to refer to time and translates “But soon they were behaving as badly as ever.” An alternative translation model can be “But they were just as eager as before to do all sorts of wicked things.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on the Book of Zephaniah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .