The Hebrew here uses metaphor to describe the officials of Jerusalem as lions and wolves. Revised Standard Version and most other modern translations retain the metaphor, but Good News Translation turns it into a simile by saying “like roaring lions” and “like hungry wolves.” Translators will need to decide which figure of speech is more appropriate in their own language. In areas where lions, wolves, or other fierce wild animals like hyenas are known, the meaning may be quite clear if the translator uses a metaphor. However, in areas where such animals are not well known, it will probably be better to follow the example of Good News Translation and thus to make the comparison more explicit. If translators have made the participants (inhabitants of Jerusalem) explicit in the previous two verses, it will be good to begin this verse with the words, “The officials of Jerusalem…,” in order to distinguish between the people in general in verse 2 and the leaders in verse 3.
Even if a simile is used, the Good News Translation statement, “Its officials are like roaring lions,” does not make explicit the point of the comparison, which is of course the way in which the officials use their power to oppress the ordinary people. Some translators may need to state this clearly and say something like “Its officials are as greedy as roaring lions.” Compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “Its leading men are lions greedy for prey,” which keeps a metaphor but makes the point of the comparison explicit.
The second part of the verse does contain some indication of the point of the comparison: her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning (Good News Translation “its judges are like hungry wolves, too greedy to leave a bone until morning”). However, there are other problems in this part of the verse. The word translated “hungry” in Good News Translation is literally evening. The evening was the time when wolves went out to hunt for food, and so a wolf encountered in the evening was more likely to be hungry and therefore dangerous. The meaning of evening wolves is therefore another figure of speech embedded within the metaphor. Good News Translation drops this second figure and expresses its meaning in plain language as “hungry wolves.” Compare Bible en français courant “wolves which hunt in the evening,” and see Habakkuk 1.8 for a note on the translation of wolves.
Some scholars consider the expression evening wolves to be rather difficult and suggest changing the Hebrew word ʿereb “evening” to ʿarab “Arabia” (compare the ancient Greek translation) or to ʿarabah “the plain.” This last suggestion lies behind the New English Bible “wolves of the plain” (compare Bible de Jérusalem). However, the Hebrew makes good sense as it stands and is followed by the majority of modern English versions (compare also Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). Translators are therefore recommended to follow it.
That leave nothing till the morning: the last part of the verse is literally “they do not gnaw in the morning.” The word “gnaw” implies “bones” as an object, and the most probable meaning of the clause in its context is “they eat up everything they can catch straight away in the evening, and do not leave any over until next day.” This understanding seems to be represented both in Revised Standard Version and more explicitly in Good News Translation, “too greedy to leave a bone until morning.” By using the word “greedy” Good News Translation brings out the point of comparison in this second picture.
Some translations take the phrase till the morning to mean “since the morning.” In this case the effect is to emphasize how hungry the wolves are by the evening, and therefore fierce and greedy. This interpretation is followed by Jerusalem Bible “that have had nothing to gnaw that morning.”
In areas where lions, wolves, and other fierce animals are unknown, it may be necessary for translators to combine the two pictures into one and use more general language. In such a situation a translation model for the verse may be “Its officials and judges are as cruel and greedy as fierce wild animals, which eat all their food at once and do not keep any till next day.”
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 .